1985–86 Santosh Trophy

1985–86 Santosh Trophy

National Football Championship
Tournament details
Country	India
Dates	26 February 1986 - 18 March 1986
Teams	28
Final positions
Champions	Punjab (5th title)
Runner-up	Bengal

The 1985–86 Santosh Trophy was the 42nd edition of the Santosh Trophy, the main State competition for football in India. It was held in Jabalpur, Bilaspur and Bhilai in Madhya Pradesh. Punjab defeated Bengal in tie-breaker to retain the title. 28 teams took part. Ten teams were seeded to the quarter final league. The other 18 teams were divided into six clusters from which one team each qualified to the quarter final. Two clusters each were played in Jabalpur, Bilaspur and Bhilai. The sixteen teams were divided into four groups for the quarter final.

Quarter-final

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Punjab	3	3	0	0	12	1	+11	6	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Karnataka	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	3
3	Gujarat	3	1	0	2	4	12	−8	2
4	Madhya Pradesh	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

Source: RSSF, Sportsworld

Punjab	3–1	Madhya Pradesh

Punjab	8–1	Gujarat
Kashmira Singh File:Soccerball shade.svg File:Soccerball shade.svg File:Soccerball shade.svg

Punjab	1–0	Karnataka
Satish Kumar File:Soccerball shade.svg 75'

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Bengal	3	3	0	0	7	0	+7	6	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Tamil Nadu	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	4
3	Services	3	1	0	2	1	2	−1	2
4	Meghalaya	3	0	0	3	1	9	−8	0

Source: RSSF

Bengal	2–0	Tamil Nadu

Bengal	1–0	Services

Bengal	4–0	Meghalaya

Tamil Nadu	1–0	Services

Tamil Nadu	4–1	Meghalaya

Services	1–0	Meghalaya

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Maharashtra	3	2	1	0	6	1	+5	5
2	Goa	3	2	1	0	3	1	+2	5
3	Bihar	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1
4	Assam	3	0	1	2	2	6	−4	1

Source: RSSF

Goa	0–0	Maharashtra

Goa	4–2 replay	Maharashtra

After Maharashtra and Goa finished the group with 5 points, their match was replayed to decide the semifinalist. Goa won 4–2. Group C matches were played in Bhilai. Goa had to take an 11-hour bus ride to play Punjab in the semifinal at Jabalpur two days later.

Group D

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Kerala	3	2	0	1	6	1	+5	4	Advance to Semi-finals
2	Andhra Pradesh	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
3	Sikkim	3	1	1	1	2	4	−2	3
4	Railways	3	1	0	2	1	4	−3	2

Source: RSSF

Semifinals

Bengal	2–0	Kerala
Subir Sarkar File:Soccerball shade.svg File:Soccerball shade.svg

Punjab	1–0	Goa

Ravishankar Shukla Stadium, Wright Town, Jabalpur

Final

18 March 1986

Punjab	0–0	Bengal
Penalties
	4–2

Ravishankar Shukla Stadium, Wright Town, Jabalpur

Notes

The RSSSF pages used as reference give the tie-breaker score as 4-1 and 4–2 in two places.