The Tamil Nadu football team, also earlier the Madras football team, is an Indian football team representing Tamil Nadu in Indian state football competitions including the Santosh Trophy. They have appeared in the Santosh Trophy finals twice, in 1972–73 and 2012, and have never won. Tamil Nadu team reached semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy in 2009, where they lost to Goa. Prior to 1972, the team competed as Madras.

The National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, due to ties with FIFA, also known as the FIFA Santosh Trophy, or simply Santosh Trophy, is an inter-state national football competition contested by the state associations and government institutions under the All India Football Federation (AIFF), the sport's governing body in India. Before the launch of the first national club league, the National Football League in 1996, the Santosh Trophy was considered the top domestic tournament in India. Many players who have represented India internationally have played in the Santosh Trophy. The tournament is held every year with eligible teams who are divided into zones, must play in the qualifying round and can progress into the tournament proper. The current champions are Karnataka, who won their title after 54 years during the 2022–23 edition. This was the first trophy for Karnataka, which had previously won four times as the princely state of Mysore, after 1968-69.