From correspondents in Delhi, India, 03:00 PM IST

The 62nd edition of the Santosh Trophy football tournament will be held in Jammu and Kashmir from May 25 to June 15.

Punjab, who are the defending champions and seven time winners of the National Championship, along with runners up and 29 time champions West Bengal and the two semi-finalists of last year - Kerala and Maharashtra - have been directly seeded into the quarterfinal league round that starts June 5.

The rest of the teams have been divided into eight clusters. All the matches will be held at three venues - G.G.M. Science College, Jammu, and Polo Ground and Bakshi Stadium in Srinagar.

Hosts Jammu and Kashmir will feature in the first match of the tournament May 25 against Puducherry at Bakshi Stadium, while Daman and Diu will play Himachal in the other match.

On May 26, Tamil Nadu will play Sikkim, while Bihar face Chandigarh at G.G.M. Science College.

The semi-finals will be played June 12 and 13, while the finals will be held June 15.

The last time Jammu and Kashmir hosted the National Championship was way back in the 1978-79 season.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)