India women's national football team

1970-2009 Rise and Fall

Football for women started lately in Asia with compared to the male counterparts. The seed of women’s football in India was planted almost forty years ago in the early 1970s. The first manager was Sushil Bhattacharya, in 1975^[3][4] and from 1975 till 1991, the administration of the game was in the hands of the Women’s Football Federation of India (WFFI) which comes under the Asian Ladies’ Football Confederation (ALFC) that had recognition from neither Fifa nor AFC (Asian Football Confederation). Both organizations continuously tried to dissuade Asian countries from sending teams to these tournaments for which the first few editions of AFC Women's Asian Cup other unofficial tournaments seen very few teams to participate and thus the 1980 Calicut edition of Asian Championship featured two Indian teams (India N & India S), Western Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.^[5] India did well enough in all these unofficial tournaments under Sushil Bhattacharya and India S become runners-up at Calicut. In the next edition of 1981 India achieved third position, defeated by Thailand and again became runners-up in the 1983 edition losing to Thailand again. This was the best chapter for the Indian women team in the Asian platform as since 1983 the performance declined along with mismanagement in the federation and failing to promote the games at all level in every state of India. The game was administered by WFFI from 1975 until the early 1990s, when they were absorbed into the AIFF as despite their impressive display at the Asian level, women’s football in India went into the state of gloom by the end of the eighties due to the previous federation failure of promoting the women's football to the level it had deserved.^[6]

But the AIFF too did very less to lift the women's football from their meager condition. It was the time when FIFA conceptualised and organised FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and International Olympic Committee started the women's competition at 1996 Summer Olympics. Time and again, the AIFF officials stated that lifting the standard of women’s football to the level of their Asian counterparts was their chief aim but they never backed up their words with actions. AIFF was treating women’s football as an extra burden was a fact which was hidden from no one but it became evident when they failed to sponsor the team’s first foreign trip in 1997 to Germany before the Asian Championships. Eventually, the trip was made possibly with the help of the German Football Association and NRI’s living in Germany.^[7]

1998 Asian Games was first participation for the national team but came out to be nightmare as they defeated by Chinese Taipei with a score line of 1-13 in the second match and again on the 3rd match they faced the biggest defeat in the history by China PR with an embarrassing scoreline of 0-16.

The women's game reached a new low in June 2009 when FIFA delisted the side from its world rankings for being out of action for more than 18 months.^[8] From 1991 to 2010 the performance of the Indian team was very poor, participating in just 5 editions of Asian Championships, 2003 as their last participation in which they faced a repeated embarrassing defeat with 0-12 scoreline from China PR. FIFA Women's World Cup and Olympics participation is yet be a reality for the Indian team.

2010-Present

After 2009 sanction by FIFA, the AIFF started to put their minds in place to better the condition of the national team and women's football, which led to commencing SAFF Women's Championship and also including women's football in the South Asian Games. Indian team earn massive success in SAFF competitions. Winning the SAFF Women's Championship four times in row without losing a single game. Additionally they won two gold medals at South Asian Games.

On 17 December 2014, AIFF Secretary Kushal Das stated that the goal for women's football from 2014 to 2017 was to increase the ranking of the India senior team to the top 40s and the top 8 in Asia, start a professional women's league by 2015, and to qualify for both the U19 and U16 versions of the AFC championships.^[9] which is now far from reality as India is 60th by FIFA World Rankings and 13th among the Asian countries and yet to qualify for AFC Women's Asian Cup since 2003, FIFA Women's World Cup and Olympic Games.

They participated in the qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics in March 2011. In their first match they beat rivals and group hosts Bangladesh 3–0. In the second round India Women played Uzbekistan where they tied the first match 1–1 but lost the second leg 1–5 and were officially knocked out. Again for Rio 2016 Olympics they participated in the AFC qualifiers, first match was a win defeating Sri Lanka with score 4-1 then shocking defeat from Myanmar with a score line 0-7 which led the way out from the qualifiers.

India participated for the second time at the Asian games in 2014, but the condition was not better than the previous participation, 16 years back in 1998. Though India defeated Maldives easily with 15-0 score, but a similar fate of Maldives was faced by them in the next two matches where they were defeated by both South Korea and Thailand with the same score of 0-10.

Recently, Indian women national team was invited to participate in Cotif Tournament where clubs and national and autonomous teams participate every year since 1984, held at Valencia, Spain. 2018 Cotif was 35th Anniversary of the tournament.^[10] At this tournament they faced 3 Spanish club teams and Morocco. First lost to Fundación Albacete, 1-4, then to Levante UD, 0-5, then the Moroccan side defeated India with a score 5-1, but on the last match India played with maturity, though lost to Madrid CFF with 0-1 score.

Current squad

As of 5 August 2018

The following 20 players were called up for the Cotif Cup 2018 going to hold at Valencia, Spain.^[12]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Elangbam Panthoi Chanu	(1996-12-23) 23 December 1996	2	0	Eastern Sporting Union
20	1GK	Aditi Chauhan	20 November 1992 (age 24)	8	0	West Ham United L.F.C.
21	1GK	Okram Roshini Devi	(1994-02-08) 8 February 1994	7	0	KRYPHSA F.C.
3	2DF	Thokchom Umapati Devi	(1994-03-10) 10 March 1994	12	1	Eastern Sporting Union
4	2DF	Loitongbam Ashalata Devi	(1993-07-03) 3 July 1993	35	3	Rising Student Club
5	2DF	Manisha Panna	(1991-04-20) 20 April 1991	12	1	Rising Student Club
17	2DF	Dalima Chhibber	(1997-08-20) 20 August 1997	7	0	India Rush SC
	2DF	Jabamani Tudu	(2001-04-10) 10 April 2001	2	0	Rising Student Club
22	2DF	Nganbam Sweety Devi	(1998-01-01) 1 January 1998	0	0	Eastern Sporting Union
6	3MF	Sangita Basfore	(1997-05-18) 18 May 1997	5	0	Rising Student Club
8	3MF	Sanju Yadav	(1997-12-09) 9 December 1997	8	2	Alakhpura
14	3MF	Indumathi Kathiresan		10	8	Indira Gandhi AS&E
	3MF	Prameshwori Devi		13	9	Eastern Sporting Union
	3MF	Moirangthem Mandakini Devi	(1991-03-01) 1 March 1991	10	7	Eastern Sporting Union
10	4FW	Ngangom Bala Devi (C)	(1990-02-02) 2 February 1990	42	32	Manipur Police
12	3MF	Dangmei Grace	(1996-02-05) 5 February 1996	13	4	KRYPHSA F.C.
24	4FW	Anju Tamang	(1995-12-22) 22 December 1995	1	0	Rising Student Club
25	4FW	Nongm Ratanbala Devi		3	1	Eastern Sporting Union
19	4FW	R. Sandhiya Ranganathan		1	1	Indira Gandhi AS&E
9	4FW	Yumnam Kamala Devi	(1992-03-04) 4 March 1992	32	26	Eastern Sporting Union

Recent call-ups

The following players were also named to the Indian squad in the latest tournaments and friendlies .

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Gurumayum Radharani Devi	(1991-01-03) January 3, 1991	8	1	Eastern Sporting Union	2018 AFC Q
DF	Poonam Sharma		0	0	FC Pune City (women)	2018 AFC Q PRE
MF	Yumlembem Premi Devi	(1993-12-06) December 6, 1993	16	2	Eastern Sporting Union	v.  Malaysia; July 31, 2017
MF	Sasmita Malik	(1989-05-08) May 8, 1989	35	40	Rising Student Club	2018 AFC Q
MF	Lochana Munda	(1989-04-10) April 10, 1989	0	0	Rising Student Club	2018 AFC QPRE
MF	Pyari Xaxa	(1997-05-18) May 18, 1997	4	2	Rising Student Club	v.  Malaysia; July 31, 2017
MF	Ngoubi Devi		0	0	Rising Student Club	2018 AFC QPRE
FW	Kashmina	(1995-03-03) March 3, 1995	0	0	Eastern Sporting Union	2018 AFC QPRE
FW	Michael Margaret Constanha	(1995-12-24) December 24, 1995	3	0	FC Pune City (women)	2018 AFC Q

Notes:

• PRE = Preliminary squad

Past Squads

Asian Games squads

• 2014 Asian Games Squad
• 1998 Asian Games Squad

2018

UD Alzira v  India

31 July 2018 Friendly	UD Alzira	1–3	India	Valencia, Spain
	60'	Report	19' Bala Devi  51' Dangmei Grace  56' Kamala Devi Yumnam

Fundación Albacete v  India

1 August 2018 Cotif Cup 2018	Fundación Albacete	4–1	India	Valencia, Spain
19:00 CEST	Alba Redondo 30' Leles 42' Miriam Costa 53' Tomo Matsukawa 70'	Report	Kamala Devi Yumnam  19' (pen.)	Stadium: Estadi municipal Els Arcs de L'alcúdia Attendance: 2,000 Referee: José L M Montero FIFA (Spain)

India  v Levante UD

3 August 2018 Cotif Cup 2018	India	0–5	Levante UD	Valencia, Spain
19:00 CEST		Report	Nerea Pérez Machado 25' Jéssica Silva 27', 37' María Alharilla  52' (pen.) Sonia Bermúdez 58'	Stadium: Estadi municipal Els Arcs de L'alcúdia Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Guillermo Cuadra(Spain)

India  v  Morocco

5 August 2018 Cotif Cup 2018	India	1–5	Morocco	Valencia, Spain
17:45 CEST	Sandhiya  42'	Report	Ghizlane Chebbak  49' (pen.) Najat  51', 56' Ibtissam  70' (pen.) Aziza 93'	Stadium: Estadi municipal Els Arcs de L'alcúdia Attendance: 1,000 Referee: Ricardo de Burgos BengoetseaFIFA (Spain)

Madrid CFF v  India

6 August 2018 Cotif Cup 2018	Madrid CFF	1–0	India	Valencia, Spain
19:30 CEST	Alba Mellado  70' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Estadi municipal Els Arcs de L'alcúdia Attendance: 2,000 Referee: Eduardo Prieto Iglesias (Spain)

India  v    Nepal

8 November 2018 2020 Olympics Q	India	v	Nepal	Myanmar
TBC		Report

Bangladesh  v  India

11 November 2018 2020 Olympics Q	Bangladesh	v	India	Myanmar
TBC		Report

Myanmar  v  India

13 November 2018 2020 Olympics Q	Myanmar	v	India	Myanmar
TBC		Report

India  v  Sri Lanka

18 December 2018 SAFF W

India

v

Sri Lanka

Srilanka

Maldives  v  India

22 December 2018 SAFF W

Maldives

v

India

Srilanka

AFC Women's Asian Cup

AFC Women's Asian Cup record Host/Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA GD 1975 Did Not Enter 1977 1979 Runners Up 2nd 7 4 2 1 8 3 +5 1981 Third Place 3rd 5 3 1 1 15 1 +14 1983 Runners Up 2nd 6 4 0 2 11 5 +6 1986 Did Not Enter 1989 1991 1993 1995 Group Stage 10th 3 0 0 3 3 12 −9 1997 Group Stage 5th 3 2 0 1 13 1 +12 1999 Group Stage 11th 4 1 0 3 3 12 −9 2001 Group Stage 9th 4 1 0 3 3 13 −10 2003 Group Stage 9th 3 1 0 2 7 14 −7 2006 Did Not Qualify 2008 2010 Did Not Enter 2014 Did Not Qualify 2018 Total 8/18 0 Titles 35 16 3 16 63 61 2 AFC Women's Asia Cup History Year Round Score Result 1979 Round 1 India S  2–0  Western Australia Won India S  2−0  Hong Kong Won India S  0–0  Chinese Taipei Draw India S  1–0  India N Won India S  0–0  Malaysia Draw Semi-final India S  3–1  Hong Kong Won Final India S  2–0  Chinese Taipei Loss

AFC Women's Asia Cup History Year Round Score Result 1981 Round 1 India  5–0  Singapore Won India  8–0  Philippines Won India  0–0  Hong Kong Draw Semi-final India  0–1  Thailand Loss 3rd Place India  2–0  Hong Kong Won 1983 Round 1 India  5–0  Philippines Won India  1–0  Hong Kong Won India  3–0  Malaysia Won India  1–2  Thailand Loss India  1–0  Singapore Won Final India  0–2  Thailand Loss 1995 Round 1 India  0–1  Uzbekistan Loss India  0–6  Japan Loss India  0–5  South Korea Loss 1997 Round 1 India  3–0  Hong Kong Won India  0–1  Japan Loss India  10–0  Guam Won 1999 Round 1 India  0–7  North Korea Loss India  3–0  Malaysia Won India  0–3  Vietnam Loss India  0–3  Chinese Taipei Loss 2001 Round 1 India  0–7  South Korea Loss India  0–5  Chinese Taipei Loss India  0–1  Thailand Loss India  3–0  Malaysia Won 2003 Round 1 India  6–0  Uzbekistan Won India  0–12  China PR Loss India  1–2  Vietnam Loss

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

At 1979 AFC Asia Cup India sent two teams, India South(India S) and India North(India N).

Asian Games

Asian Games record Year Result Position Pld W D* L GF GA GD 1990 DNP 1994 1998 Group stage 8th 3 0 0 3 1 36 -35 2002 DNP 2006 2010 2014 Group stage 9th 3 1 0 2 15 20 -5 2018 DNP Total 2/7 0 Titles 6 1 0 5 16 56 -40

Asian Games History Year Round Score Result 1998 Round 1 India  0–7  South Korea Loss India  1–13  Chinese Taipei Loss India  0–16  China PR Loss 2014 Round 1 India  15–0  Maldives Won India  0–10  South Korea Loss India  0–10  Thailand Loss

• DNP: did not participate
• DNQ: did not qualified

Bold Positions show best finish in the tournaments.

SAFF Women's Championship

India has won the SAFF Women's Championship four times in a row.^[14]

SAFF Women's Championship
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2010	Winners		5	5	0	0	40	0	40
2012	Winners		5	5	0	0	33	1	32
2014	Winners		5	5	0	0	36	1	35
2016	Winners		4	3	1	0	11	3	8
Total	4/4		19	18	1	0	120	5	115

South Asian Games

India has won the South Asian Games two times.

South Asian Games
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2010	Winners		5	5	0	0	29	2	27
2016	Winners		5	3	2	0	14	1	13
Total	2/2	2 Titles	10	8	2	0	43	3	40