What's the story?
India's first professional women's football league was launched in Delhi by the sport's governing body, All India Football Federation (AIFF) today. The tournament will feature six teams from around the country, with matches set to be hosted at the capital's Ambedkar stadium from January 28.
FC Pune City became the first ISL team to launch its women's team for the Indian Women's League, which will see its inaugural season begin this Saturday. Sportskeeda caught up with FC Pune City's ladies team manager, Kalpana Dass to discuss the initiative taken by the Indian board.
Dass threw light on many topics in the wake of the league's launch.
In case you didn't know...
The six teams that will be taking part in the inaugural IWL are - FC Alakhpura (Haryana), Jeppiaar Institute of Technology FC (Puducherry), Aizawl FC (Mizoram), FC Pune City (Maharashtra), Rising Student Club (Odisha) and Eastern Sporting Union (Manipur). The teams will play against each another in a round-robin format before the top four teams fight it out in the knockout stages.
The heart of the matter
FC Pune City ladies’ head coach, Kalpana Dass revelled in the fact that girls having footballing aspirations can dream of playing professionally in their homeland.
She said, “It is a dream come for all the women players and coaches. This decision was long awaited and I want to thank the board for taking forward steps with regards to women’s football. We have some exciting players coming up and despite all the difficult circumstances that these girls go through to play football, IWL is a brilliant initiative to promote women’s football.”
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Dass has completed her AFC 'A' license and is one of the best female coaches in the country.
What's next?
The Indian ladies’ team are ranked 54 in the world but the Blues can cash in from this competitive league and help them stay in the reckoning for 2019 World Cup qualification. AIFF has decided against allowing foreign players to compete in the inaugural edition of IWL but the players and coaches are hopeful of getting this decision reversed in time for the second season.
Sportskeeda's Take
FC Pune City has taken a brilliant step, which is expected to be replicated by the other ISL teams in the future. The Pune City ladies team have been playing together for a long time and have already won three tournaments around the country.
Having a stellar coach and a team that has played with one another for a long time makes them title contenders in the first season of the IWL.
