the santosh trophy was started in 1941 after the then president of the indian football association, west bengal's football association, sir manmatha nath roy chowdhary of santosh and sir satish chandra chowdhury donated the trophy. at the time of the first tournament, india lacked a proper main championship for football teams. the other two main competitions at the time were the durand cup, rovers cup, and the ifa shield and they were played by club sides. in 1990, in an attempt to bring through more younger players, the all india football federation made the santosh trophy into an under-23 competition. this move only lasted for three seasons before the tournament was reverted to a senior competition.