Women’s football in India takes an important step forward in 2020

2020 was supposed to be a massive year for women’s football in India. 

This year was when the global event of FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup was scheduled to take place in India but the Coronavirus pandemic forced the football body to alter their plans. The World Cup was initially postponed to early 2021 but later cancelled due to the practical difficulty of pulling off such a big event amidst the pandemic. 

As the hosts of the U-17 World Cup, India had begun their preparations under head coach Thomas Dennerby. He has called up his squad for training camps and everything seemed to be falling place for the young girls before the Government was forced to lock the country down. 

The nationwide lockdown also meant that all plans for the age-category leagues and women’s football leagues at the state level had to be dropped. Everybody had to sit at home and train. 

But when football had to be stopped on the field, there were a few important decisions taken off it that will benefit women’s football and its progress in India. 

Following the cancellation of the 2020 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) successfully managed to convince the body to award them the hosting right for the 2022 edition of the World Cup, which is a fantastic achievement as the chance was deemed to be nearly lost for a bit. 

2020 was also the year when the AFC announced that India has won the hosting rights for the 2022 Women’s Asian Cup, back in June. To have two big events lined up is a massive boost for women’s football in the country and it could be a turning point for the industry and an encouragement for several new entities to build their own women’s team and leagues explore such avenues. 

Going from tournaments to leagues, the AIFF President Praful Patel also announced that the Indian FA’s Arrows project will now also include a women’s Indian Arrows team. 

Since the 2020 edition of the World Cup had to be cancelled and India are instead hosting the next edition, only some of the girls from the current Under-17 World Cup batch would still be eligible. Others will continue to develop their skills under the Arrows project.

“The All India Football Federation had formed a developmental side Indian Arrows for the boys which take part in the I-League. So for the current set of girls who were a part of the U17 World Cup squad, we will form a women’s team of the Indian Arrows who will participate in the Indian Women’s League (IWL). This will help in the progress of the girls’ careers,” the AIFF president had stated earlier this month. 

As the year comes to a close, even without much of women’s football on the field, except for the IWL that took place in the first two months of the calendar year, some of these important decisions could pay way for a new wave for women’s football in the country. Enough words, it’s time for action in 2021.