Himanshu patil

The National Football Championship: The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy breaks new ground every year -- like organising the final-four stage in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where Karnataka were crowned champions after 54 years. Having broken new ground with a historic visit to Saudi Arabia, the nation's premier state tournament is set to be held in Arunachal Pradesh for the first time.

Like Meghalaya, Karnataka have also lost some important names from last year like Robin Yadav, Bekey Oram and M Sunil Kumar, but Raju remains confident. "Our squad has many youngsters with a balanced mix of experienced players. We must be strong and ready to compete," he added.

Maharashtra, who led the goalscoring charts in the group stage with a whopping 24 goals in five matches, are one of the favourites in Group B. A bulk of those numbers were racked up by Himanshu Patil, Nikhil Kadam and Advait, who will look to recreate the same in Yupia. Further, India's Asian Games squad member Azfar Noorani has also joined the squad.