Know Your Indian Women Football team

If we don’t watch football, the least we can do is to know about it.

India is a cricketing nation, no doubt about it. But even those who follow football, look up to European football and players. Even those who don’t follow football have heard about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

But when it comes to Indian football, the eyeballs seem to be missing. Our players who represent our nation don’t get noticed and appreciated by our own people who skip them for European glory.

When someone asks us to name Indian footballers, the 2 names that people mostly are familiar with are of Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri. Yet there are people who don’t even know who represents our country.

No doubt their contribution has been massive for the team and they were the front-runners in putting us on the global map. But India is not a one-man team.

Still in men’s team we know at least one or two players, but do you know or are aware of any women footballer who represents us? Or even the captain of the team?

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Know your Team

Indian women team is ranked 55th in world compared to 108th rank of Men.

It’s not about a narrative of men vs women, it’s about a better-ranked promising women’s team not getting its due recognition. Where is the media? Media tells what sells, what’s profitable. Men’s’ sport has been profitable for years and this is how it is. Neither does media want to change it nor do the audience. And then we complain that the media doesn’t support by broadcasting women’s sport. We need to know the team, support the team to see them on the screen.

AIFF (All India Football Federation ) is the governing body for both Men and Women football. The body has said that their motto is to uplift our daughters and give them an equal platform and to promote them. However, those words never got converted into actions, as AIFF even failed to sponsor the India women team’s first foreign trip to Germany in 1997. The trip was made possible with the help of the German football association and NRI’s living in Germany. Despite these hurdles, the team has tasted success but failed to gain fans.

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Achievements

Our Women’s team have has won the SAFF Women’s Championship five times in a row. They have never lost the competition since their participation in 2010.

India has won the South Asian Games three times.

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Know the players

If we can’t follow football, the least we can do is to know about them.

Captain

• The captain of the Senior Indian Women’s Team
• AIFF Player of the Year 2019
• Second Indian woman to play for a foreign club (New Radiant)

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Goalkeeper

• First Indian woman to play in English league football
• First player from the India national women’s team to play competitively in England for West Ham United Ladies

• AIFF doesn’t even have a picture of the player on their website.

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Defenders

• Former captain of the India U-19 side

• Helped Sethu FC clinch their maiden Hero IWL title in the 2018-19 season

• AIFF again doesn’t have the player’s photo

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Midfielder

• Captained India for few matches

• AIFF again doesn’t have the player’s photo

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Fowards

• The two-time AIFF Player of the Year (2014 and 2015)
• Top scorer of Indian women football
• Signed a professional contract of 18 months with Scottish Women’s Premier League club Rangers, making her one of the few Indian women to become a professional footballer.
• Yet its so shameful that AIFF doesn’t have her squad picture on their website.

• AIFF again doesn’t have their player’s photo

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The state of Indian women football team is evident. The sport and players requires due recognition, equal opportunities and facilities. To encourage a sport it requires support from all ways and communities- the AIFF, the citizens/fans and media.

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