Santosh Trophy was India`s premier football tournament before the arrival of the National Football League. The tournament was named after the late Maharaja Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhary of Santosh, who was the President of the Indian Football Association.

In Santosh Trophy, the tournament was not played in the club level; instead various Indian states compete for the top honour. In the present format, eight teams are selected through a qualifying round. They join four seeded teams in the quarterfinal league stage. These twelve teams are then divided into four groups, each group containing three teams. The subsequent group winners compete in the semifinal.

The State of Bengal has achieved most success in the Santosh trophy and annexed the title for twenty nine times.