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#2 Lack of International friendlies and exposure
United States of America (USA) women's national team have played 17 competitive games in the year of 2017 with 13 games being friendlies. On the contrary, the Indian women's national team played just seven competitive games and just one friendly against Malaysia.
India's principal football association, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), wasted eight friendly windows in the year of 2017 as shown above in the FIFA Women's Calendar 2017. India played Malaysia in the 16 July - 6 August window against Malaysia and won 0-2.
The lack of international exposure and amount of matches have hurt the women footballers by large. The national team has been out of competitive action for six months now with no league action as well. Players are resorting to inter-colleges and invitational tournaments at the local level to keep them going.
AIFF needs to organize more friendlies against tough sides if India needs to go up the charts in women's football.
