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#2 Aditi Chauhan
It may come as no surprise but Aditi Chauhan is the first Indian woman to have played competitively in English League football. Born and brought up in New Delhi, she was a promising sportsperson who made her women’s Delhi U-19 bow at the tender age of 15. Impressing at the state level, she was called for the India U-19 trials at the age of 17 and went on to win the 2012 SAFF Women’s Championship in Sri Lanka.
Aditi joined West Ham in 2015, making her debut for the Hammers in August 2015 in a 5-0 defeat to Coventry City. She soon became the first choice ‘keeper for West Ham, playing 18 games and keeping four clean sheets in the process, winning the Asian Woman Footballer of the Year award. She was soon asked to leave the club after the English FA ruled that clubs lower than the second tier could not sponsor player visas or pay them salaries.
The shot-stopper returned to West Ham in September 2016 after sorting out her visa issues. Her return was a memorable one, as she saved three penalties in a shootout against Swindon, receiving a hero’s welcome on her return to West Ham Ladies.
Aditi continues to make history playing for the Hammers and is a source of inspiration to all Indian women who aspire to be sportspersons.
