SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 7 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Fill in the blanks: The Santosh Trophy 2022–23 final was uniquely held in _____, where Karnataka defeated Meghalaya to win the title after 54 years.

(a)Dubai
(b)Riyadh
(c)Doha
(d)Muscat

Answer

Why

Correct — B. After an October 2022 MoU between the AIFF and the Saudi Arabia Football Federation, the semi-finals, third-place match and final of the 76th Santosh Trophy were played in Riyadh.

The final, on 4 March 2023 at King Fahd International Stadium, went 3–2 to Karnataka over Meghalaya.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Dubai — Dubai is in the UAE. The Santosh Trophy knockouts went to Saudi Arabia under the AIFF's MoU with the Saudi federation, and the final was played in Riyadh.
(c)
Doha — Doha is the capital of Qatar, a different Gulf state. The 2022–23 Santosh Trophy knockouts were played in Saudi Arabia, with the final at Riyadh.
(d)
Muscat — Muscat is the capital of Oman. The 2022–23 Santosh Trophy knockouts were staged in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, not in Oman.

Concept

The Santosh Trophy is India's senior men's national football championship, contested by teams of the states, union territories and institutions such as Services and Railways.

The 2022–23 edition, the 76th, played its group stage and final-round groups in India, with Odisha hosting the final round. Its knockout stage moved to Riyadh.

Karnataka's win was its fifth title, counting four won as Mysore, the last of them in 1968–69.

The stem's 54 years runs from Mysore's 1968–69 title to 2022–23. The state then played as Mysore, so its earlier titles appear under that name in the records.

Key facts

The 2022–23 Santosh Trophy final was played at King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, on 4 March 2023.
Karnataka beat Meghalaya 3–2 in that final for its fifth title, four of them won as Mysore.
The AIFF signed an MoU with the Saudi Arabia Football Federation at Dammam on 6 October 2022.
The Santosh Trophy began in 1941 and is named after Sir Manmatha Nath Roy Chowdhury, Maharaja of Santosh.

Study next

Indian football tournaments: Santosh Trophy, Durand Cup and the Indian Super LeagueThe AIFF and its international partnerships

Common traps

Picking the more familiar Gulf city, Dubai or Doha, over Riyadh.
Forgetting that Karnataka's earlier titles are recorded under the name Mysore.

Here the stem's own word, uniquely, points at a venue outside India. Indian football also appears at 18 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.14, which asks which Indian footballer passed Pele's tally of 77 international goals.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Current events — all 116 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.