India women's national football team

India

Nickname(s)	The Blue Tigresses
Association	All India Football Federation (AIFF)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Santosh Kashyap
Captain	Ghana Bopanna
Most caps	Ashalata Devi (103)
Top scorer	Bala Devi (49)
FIFA code	IND
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	68 1 (16 August 2024)[1]
Highest	49[2] (December 2013)
Lowest	68[2] (August 2024)
First international
As India S:  India S 2–0  Hong Kong (Calicut, India; 12 January 1980) As India:  India 5–0 Singapore  (Hong Kong; 7 June 1981)
Biggest win
India 18–0 Bhutan  (Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; 13 December 2010)
Biggest defeat
China 16–0 India  (Bangkok, Thailand; 11 December 1998)
Women's Asian Cup
Appearances	9 (first in 1980)
Best result	Runners-up (1980 and 1983)
SAFF Women's Championship
Appearances	6 (first in 2010)
Best result	Champions (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019)
Medal record Women's Asian Cup 1980 India 1983 Thailand 1981 Hong Kong SAFF Women's Championship 2010 Bangladesh 2012 Sri Lanka 2014 Pakistan 2016 India 2019 Nepal South Asian Games 2010 Dhaka Team 2016 Guwahati & Shillong Team 2019 Kathmandu & Pokhara Team

The India women's national football team represents India at women's international football competitions and is governed by the All India Football Federation. Under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and governed in Asia by the AFC. India is also part of the South Asian Football Federation. The team was one of the best in Asia in the mid-1970s to early 1980s, when they became runners-up in the 1979 and the 1983 AFC Women's Asian Cup.

The Indian women's national team is yet to participate in the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Olympic Games. The present ranking of the team according to the FIFA Women's World Rankings is 66, the 13th-best team in Asia.

Football for women in Asia started later compared to their male counterparts. The seed of women's football in India was planted in the early 1970s. The first manager was Sushil Bhattacharya, in 1975^[3][4] and from 1975 until 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. 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 seen very few teams. Thus, the 1980 featured two Indian teams (India N & India S), Western Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.^[5] India did well enough in all these tournaments under Sushil Bhattacharya. In the next edition of 1981 India achieved third position, defeated by Thailand, and 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. The game was administered by WFFI from 1975 until the early 1990s, when they were absorbed into the AIFF.^[6]

The AIFF did very less to lift the women's football from their meager condition. It was the time when FIFA conceptualized 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. The AIFF 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. They were defeated by Chinese Taipei 1–13, before facing the biggest defeat in the history by China PR with an embarrassing scoreline of 0–16.^[8]

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.^[9] From 1991 to 2010 the performance of the Indian team was very poor, participating in just 5 editions.

After 2009 sanction by FIFA, the AIFF started 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. The women's team resumed playing on 29 January 2010 after nearly a year-long hiatus.^[10] Indian team earn massive success in SAFF competitions, winning the SAFF Women's Championship four times in a row without losing a single game. Additionally, they won two gold medals at South Asian Games.^[11]

They participated in the qualifiers for the 2012 Summer Olympics in March 2011. In their first match India has beaten group hosts Bangladesh 3–0. In the second round India played Uzbekistan, where they tied the first match 1–1, but lost the second leg 1–5.^[12]

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, a similar fate was faced by them in the next two matches, being defeated by South Korea and Thailand with the same score of 0–10.^[13]

In August 2018, 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.^[14] 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.

In November 2018, India qualified to the second round of 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament for the first time since the qualifying tournament started for the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[15][16]

For preparation of 2020 Olympics 2nd round qualifiers India played two matches each against Hong Kong and Indonesia winning all four of them 5–2 & 1–0 against Hong Kong and 3–0 & 2–0 against Indonesia respectively.^[17][18] Following these matches India played at the 2019 Gold Cup organised at home, where they won their first match against Iran by 1–0 but lost next two matches to Nepal and Myanmar by 1–2 and 0–2 respectively and failed to reach the final.^[19][20][21]

In 2022 India lost a match at the SAFF Championship for the first time.^[22] They lost against Bangladesh 0–3 in the group stage.^[23] The team also lost the semifinal against Nepal 0–1. Thus failing to win the SAFF title for the first time ever.^[24]

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss   Void or postponed   Fixtures

• Official Fixtures and Results – The-AIFF.com

As of 16 September 2024^[25]

Position	Name
Head coach	Santosh Kashyap
Assistant coach	Priya P. V.
Goalkeeper coach	Lourembam Ronibala Chanu
Team manager	Thongam Tababi Devi
Physiotherapist	Disha Patil Reshmi Pillai
Masseuse	Kajol Kamble
Media officer	Sruti Chakraborty

As of 27 October 2024, after the match against  Nepal.

Name	Years	Played	Won	Draw	Lost	Win %
Sushil Bhattacharya	1975	–	–	–	–	–
J. Krishnaswamy	1980	5	2	2	1	40
unknown	1981	5	3	1	1	60
unknown	1983	6	4	0	2	66.67
unknown	1986	2	1	0	1	50
I. Arumainayagam[26]	1994	3	0	0	3	0
unknown	1995	3	0	0	3	0
unknown	1997	3	2	0	1	66.67
S. Arumainayagam[27]	1998	3	0	0	3	0
Harjinder Singh[28]	1999	4	1	0	3	25
P. K. Kabui[29]	2001	4	1	0	3	25
Moirangthem Ratankumar Singh[30]	2003	3	1	0	2	33.33
Harjinder Singh[31]	2005−2007	7	1	0	6	14.29
Sapam Premkanta Singh[32]	2007	2	1	0	1	50
Mohammad Shahid Jabbar	2009–2012	21	18	1	2	85.71
Anadi Barua	2013	5	2	1	2	40
Tarun Roy	2014	8	6	0	2	75
Sajid Dar	2015–2017	15	8	3	4	53.33
Maymol Rocky	2017–2021	33	18	5	10	54.55
Thomas Dennerby	2021–2023	21	7	3	11	33.33
Suren Chettri (interim)	2022	4	2	0	2	50
Langam Chaoba Devi	2024	7	2	2	3	28.57
Santosh Kashyap	2024–	3	1	1	1	33.33
Total		167	81	19	67	48.5

Note: Only FIFA A matches considered.

The following 23 players were called up for 2024 SAFF Women's Championship in October 2024.^[33]

Caps and goals are correct as of 27 October 2024, after the match against  Nepal.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Elangbam Panthoi Chanu	(1996-02-01) 1 February 1996 (age 28)	18	0	East Bengal
13	1GK	Maibam Linthoingambi Devi	(1999-02-02) 2 February 1999 (age 25)	9	0	Kickstart
23	1GK	Payal Basude	(2003-09-30) 30 September 2003 (age 21)	1	0	Gokulam Kerala
4	2DF	Loitongbam Ashalata Devi (Captain)	(1993-07-03) 3 July 1993 (age 31)	100	6	East Bengal
17	2DF	Dalima Chhibber	(1997-08-30) 30 August 1997 (age 27)	54	2	Kickstart
18	2DF	Sanju Yadav	(1997-09-12) 12 September 1997 (age 27)	54	11	Kickstart
5	2DF	Hemam Shilky Devi	(2005-11-23) 23 November 2005 (age 18)	16	1	Gokulam Kerala
3	2DF	Juli Kishan	(1999-05-08) 8 May 1999 (age 25)	8	0	Odisha
14	2DF	Sorokhaibam Ranjana Chanu	(1999-03-10) 10 March 1999 (age 25)	38	3	Assam Rifles
12	2DF	Aruna Bag	(2003-04-27) 27 April 2003 (age 21)	6	0	Kickstart
2	2DF	Wangkhem Linthoingambi Devi	(1995-03-01) 1 March 1995 (age 29)	8	0	Kickstart
9	4FW	Anju Tamang	(1995-12-22) 22 December 1995 (age 28)	63	14	East Bengal
8	3MF	Sangita Basfore	(1996-07-12) 12 July 1996 (age 28)	60	4	SSB Women
6	3MF	Naorem Priyangka Devi	(2003-04-09) 9 April 2003 (age 21)	12	2	East Bengal
19	3MF	Karthika Angamuthu	(2000-01-01) 1 January 2000 (age 24)	13	0	East Bengal
7	3MF	Soumya Guguloth	(2001-01-18) 18 January 2001 (age 23)	31	5	East Bengal
10	4FW	Bala Devi (Vice-Captain)	(1990-02-02) 2 February 1990 (age 34)	59	49	Sreebhumi
11	4FW	Grace Dangmei	(1996-02-05) 5 February 1996 (age 28)	80	22	Kickstart
16	4FW	Manisha Kalyan	(2001-11-27) 27 November 2001 (age 22)	39	10	PAOK
20	4FW	Sandhiya Ranganathan	(1998-05-20) 20 May 1998 (age 26)	43	10	East Bengal
21	4FW	Jyoti Chouhan	(1999-07-06) 6 July 1999 (age 25)	7	1	Gokulam Kerala
22	4FW	Karishma Shirvoikar	(2001-08-04) 4 August 2001 (age 23)	10	0	Kickstart
15	4FW	Rimpa Haldar	(2005-02-06) 6 February 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Sreebhumi

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past twelve months, but are not part of the current squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Shreya Hooda	(1999-05-25) 25 May 1999 (age 25)	12	0	Odisha	Myanmar, July 2024
GK	Sowmiya Narayanasamy	(2000-07-25) 25 July 2000 (age 24)	3	0	Gokulam Kerala	2024 AFC Olympic Qualifiers
GK	Anshika	(2003-02-22) 22 February 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Odisha	NT camp, February 2024
GK	Moirangthem Monalisha Devi	(2006-07-03) 3 July 2006 (age 18)	0	0	Sreebhumi	NT camp, October 2024
DF	Ngangbam Sweety Devi	(1999-12-01) 1 December 1999 (age 24)	57	1	East Bengal	NT camp, October 2024
DF	Manisa Panna	(1991-04-20) 20 April 1991 (age 33)	31	0	Nita	2024 AFC Olympic Qualifiers
DF	Ritu Rani	(1997-05-25) 25 May 1997 (age 27)	14	0	Kickstart	2024 AFC Olympic Qualifiers
DF	Jabamani Tudu	(2000-04-10) 10 April 2000 (age 24)	26	1	Nita	NT camp, October 2024
DF	Mamta	(1997-06-23) 23 June 1997 (age 27)	0	0	HOPS	NT camp, February 2024
DF	Thounaojam Kritina Devi	(2003-02-10) 10 February 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Gokulam Kerala	NT camp, February 2024
DF	Astam Oraon	(2005-02-05) 5 February 2005 (age 19)	7	0	East Bengal	Uzbekistan, February 2024
DF	Yumlembam Pakpi Devi	(2002-02-01) 1 February 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Kickstart	NT camp, October 2024
MF	Nongmaithem Ratanbala Devi	(1999-12-02) 2 December 1999 (age 24)	38	12	Gokulam Kerala	NT camp, October 2024
MF	Neha Sillay	(2006-05-19) 19 May 2006 (age 18)	0	0	Odisha	Myanmar, July 2024
MF	Mousumi Murmu	(2004-12-26) 26 December 2004 (age 19)	1	0	Sreebhumi	NT camp, October 2024
MF	Indumathi Kathiresan	(1994-06-05) 5 June 1994 (age 30)	57	17	Odisha	2024 Turkish Women's Cup
MF	Pavithra Murugesan	(2002-04-20) 20 April 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Gokulam Kerala	NT camp, February 2024
MF	Aveka Singh	(2003-12-30) 30 December 2003 (age 20)	0	0	UC Irvine Anteaters	NT camp, October 2023
MF	Kaviya Pakkirisamy	(2002-12-23) 23 December 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Sethu	Uzbekistan, February 2024
MF	Anjana Thapa		0	0	Pink Panthers FC	NT camp, October 2024
FW	Lynda Kom	(2005-02-28) 28 February 2005 (age 19)	0	0	Odisha	Myanmar, July 2024
FW	Pyari Xaxa	(1997-05-18) 18 May 1997 (age 27)	28	10	Odisha	Myanmar, July 2024
FW	Kajol D'Souza	(2006-04-28) 28 April 2006 (age 18)	0	0	Odisha	Myanmar, July 2024
FW	Renu Gour	(2001-01-16) 16 January 2001 (age 23)	21	4	Kickstart	2024 AFC Olympic Qualifiers
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

As of 23 October 2024

Players in bold are still active, at least at club level.

Tenure	Incumbent	Reserve captains	Tournaments	Ref
1980	Chitra Gangadharan	Yolanda D'Souza	1980 AFC Women's Championship	[34][35]
1981	Kuntala Ghosh Dastidar		1981 AFC Women's Championship 1981 Women's World Invitational Tournament	[36]
1981–1983	Shanti Mullick		1983 AFC Women's Championship
1994–1997	unknown
1998–2001	Maria Rebello	Thongam Tababi Devi	1998 Asian Games 2001 AFC Women's Championship
1999	Langam Chaoba Devi		1999 AFC Women's Championship	[37]
2003 2007 2011–2016	Oinam Bembem Devi	Sradhanjali Samantaray, Madhu Kumari, Sujata Kar, Sasmita Mallik, Tuli Goon, Romi Devi, Bala Devi	2003 AFC Women's Championship 2012 SAFF Women's Championship 2014 Asian Games 2014 SAFF Women's Championship 2016 South Asian Games
2005	Sradhanjali Samantaray
2007	Sujata Kar			[38]
2010	Wangkhem Robita Devi		2010 South Asian Games
2010	Thongam Tababi Devi		2010 SAFF Women's Championship	[39]
2013	Tuli Goon
2016–2018	Bala Devi		2016 SAFF Women's Championship	[40][41]
2018–present	Loitongbam Ashalata Devi	Aditi Chauhan, Sangita Basfore, Indumathi Kathiresan, Dalima Chhibber, Grace Dangmei Bala Devi	2019 SAFF Women's Championship 2019 South Asian Games 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022 SAFF Women's Championship 2024 SAFF Women's Championship

FIFA Women's World Cup record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
1991	Did not enter
1995
1999	Did not qualify
2003
2007
2011	Did not enter
2015	Did not qualify
2019
2023	Withdrew from qualification
2027	To be determined
Total	0/9	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Summer Olympics record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1996 to 2004	Did not enter
2008	Did not qualify
2012
2016
2020
2024
2028	To be determined
2032
Total	0/8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

At 1979 AFC Asia Cup India placed two teams, India Senior(India S) and India Novice(India N), other version called as India North and India South.

• DNP: did not participate
• DNQ: did not qualify

Bold Positions show best finish in the tournaments.

India has won the SAFF Women's Championship five times in a row.^[43]

SAFF Women's Championship record
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
2019	Winners		4	4	0	0	18	1	+17
2022	Semi-final		4	2	0	2	12	4	+8
2024	Semi-final		3	1	1	1	7	6	+1
Total	7/7	5 Titles	30	25	2	3	157	16	+141

India has won the South Asian Games three times.

South Asian Games record
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
2019	Winners		4	4	0	0	14	0	+14
Total	3/3	3 Titles	14	12	2	0	57	3	+54

Red border indicates, India had hosted the games.

Other Tournaments
World Invitational Tournament	Gold Cup	Turkish Women's Cup	Torneio Internacional de Futebol Feminino
1981: 12th place	2019: 3rd place	2019: 6th place 2021: Friendlies 2024: Runners-up[44]	2021: 4th place

• AFC Women's Asian Cup:
  • Runners-up (2): 1980, 1983
  • Third Place (1): 1981

• SAFF Women's Championship:
  • Champions (5): 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019
• South Asian Games
  • Gold medal (3): 2010, 2016, 2019

As of 4 December 2023^[45]

  Best Ranking    Best Mover    Worst Ranking    Worst Mover  

India's FIFA World Ranking History
Rank	Year	Games Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Best		Worst
						Rank	Move	Rank	Move
65	2023	12	2	3	7	60	1	65	4
61	2022	2	2	0	0	56	3	61	4
55	2021	12	3	9	0	55	2	57	4
53	2020	0	0	0	0	53	2	55	2
57	2019	27	17	6	4	57	6	63	1
62	2018	3	1	1	1	59	1	62	3
57	2017	7	4	0	3	56	4	60	4
54	2016	7	4	3	0	54	3	58	1
57	2015	2	1	0	1	55		57	2
53	2014	8	6	0	2	50	1	53	3
49	2013	5	2	1	2	49	1	51
52	2012	5	5	0	0	52	2	54	1
53	2011	6	3	1	2	53	1	54	2
56	2010	10	10	0	0	55		56	5
50	2009	0	0	0	0	50	2	50	2
52	2008	0	0	0	0	52	2	55
56	2007	4	1	0	3	55	2	57	1
55	2006	0	0	0	0	55	1	56	1
56	2005	3	1	0	2	56	2	58	1
58	2004	0	0	0	0	58		58	1
57	2003	3	1	0	2	56		57	3

• Kapadia, Novy (2017). Barefoot to Boots: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Penguin Random House. ISBN 978-0-143-42641-7.
• Martinez, Dolores; Mukharjiim, Projit B (2009). Football: From England to the World: The Many Lives of Indian Football. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-88353-6. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022.
• Taylor & Francis: Soccer and Society (2005). The gendered kick: Women's soccer in twentieth century India, Soccer & Society, 6:2–3, 270–284, doi:10.1080/14660970500106469.
• "Triumphs and Disasters: The Story of Indian Football, 1889—2000" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
• Majumdar, Boria; Bandyopadhyay, Kausik (2006). A Social History Of Indian Football: Striving To Score. Routledge. ISBN 9780415348355. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.

• Official website the-AIFF.com (in English)
• Profile at FIFA.com (in English)
• India women's national football team picture at Hindustan Times