Indian Women’s football team set to travel abroad to prep for AFC Women’s Asian Cup 

The Indian Women’s football team is all set to tour abroad as part of their preparations for the AFC Women's Asian Cup, which is set to take place in India in 2022.

The senior women's team has been training in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, since mid-August. The tournament will be held from January 20-February 6, 2022. The team will now travel to foreign countries to gain exposure ahead of the AFC Women's Asia Cup.

Head coach Thomas Dennerby has already spoken about the importance of playing quality matches to get an assessment of the preparedness ahead of the big tournament.

“The matches in UAE and Bahrain will allow us to judge ourselves where we stand against some good competitive opponents. Teams need to build up their defence, and also the build-up process, and all of that is judged in an international match,” stated the coach.

The Indian Women’s team will play two friendly matches in the UAE, and then travel to Bahrain to play two more friendlies against Bahrain and Chinese Taipei.

That is likely to be followed by a brief stint in Sweden, where they are set to face two Damallsvenskan league teams. They will compete in Sweden following permission from the authorities, keeping in mind the COVID 19 protocols.

“Besides the four matches against UAE, Tunisia, Chinese Taipei and Bahrain, we also have two confirmed matches against two Swedish premier league teams. We are in the process of sorting out the travel protocol to the country as the entry of Indian citizens to Sweden is still not open yet,” said Head Coach Thomas Dennerby.

Indian head coach Dennerby appreciates AIFF's efforts to arrange matches under such demanding circumstances

The Indian squad is set to leave for the UAE on September 30, where they will play two friendlies against the United Arab Emirates and Tunisia.

Earlier, head coach Thomas Dennerby had stressed the importance of playing competitive matches in their preparation for the continental tournament.

“We have been training in Jamshedpur for a month, in our quest to prepare for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup India 2020. Unfortunately, the current pandemic situation is tough and the reality is that there are different quarantine restrictions in different countries which kills many options for the Indian teams as entry for Indians in some countries is either still not yet open, or involves a major quarantine period,” said Dennerby.

Head coach Dennerby acknowledged the All India Football Federation's efforts to arrange Indian squad matches against foreign teams. This will help the girls appraise their mobility ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

“I appreciate the efforts of the AIFF in finding us teams willing to play matches against us under such circumstances,” Dennerby further added.