North East United Football Club became the champion of the 40th All India Governor’s Gold Cup International Football Tournament 2024 held at Paljor Stadium, Gangtok on Sunday. In the nail-biting final match played here on Sunday, North East United FC defeated the home team, Gangtok Himalayan Sporting Club in the tie-breaker.

Governor Om Prakash Mathur was present as the chief guest and was accompanied by the Chief Minister PS Tamang as the Guest of Honour. The thrilling final match was witnessed by stadium packed with football lovers who cheered up their teams throughout the match.

The full time of the match ended goalless and the match directly entered into tie-breaker through penalty shoot-out. In the tie-breaker, North East United FC converted all four penalty shots into goals but Gangtok Himalayan SC managed to score only three goals out of five shots.

Another highlight of the final match was an exhibition match between Chief Minister XI and GTA XI where GTA XI defeated Chief Minister XI by 4-3 Goals.

A total of 16 teams participated in this fortnight-long football tournament, which kicked off on 8th November. The tournament had four international clubs from Nepal, Bhutan, Dubai and Malaysia. This prestigious football tournament of the country was organized by Sikkim Football Association.  The tournament took place after a gap of five years as the last edition of the tournament was held in 2019.