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The fourth edition of the Indian Women’s league gets underway at the Bangalore Football Stadium from January 24. The 21-day long tournament will culminate with the Finals being played on February 14. The first-ever rolling trophy for the Indian Women’s league was unveiled in a glittering ceremony in the city today. Captains of the team representing all the 12 teams from 10 states were present along with AIFF’s League CEO Sunando Dhar; Satya Narayan, Hony. General Secretary, KSFA; and India Women’s head coach Maymol Rocky.
Kryphsa FC and Kickstart FC will lock horns in the first match on January 24. 12 teams vying for the top honours in the Indian Women’s League have been divided into two groups of six teams each viz; Group A & Group B.
Group A would consist of Kickstart FC (Karnataka), FC Kolhapur (Maharashtra), Krypsha FC (Manipur), BBK DAV FC (Punjab), Sethu FC (Tamil Nadu) and Baroda FA (Gujarat) while Group B shall comprise of Kenkre FC (Maharashtra), Gokulam Kerala FC (Kerala), Odisha Police FC (Odisha), Bangalore United FC (Karnataka), Sreebhumi FC (West Bengal), Bidesh XI FC (Goa). Two games will be played on a day at 12pm and 3pm and would be streamed LIVE & Exclusive on the Indian Football Team Facebook page.
Each team would play a total of 5 matches in the round-robin league and the top two teams from each group will make their way to the semifinals with the winners thereafter playing the finals on February 14, which shall kick-off from 2pm onwards.
Over INR 20 Lakhs of the cash prize is due to be won in the 4th Indian Women’s League. The Champions shall walk away with the rolling trophy and medals along with a cash prize of INR 10 Lakhs, while the Runner’s UP will get richer by INR 5 Lakhs. The tournament MVP (Most Valuable Player) would earn a total of INR 1.25 Lakhs, the best goalkeeper would get richer by INR 1 Lakh and the emerging player winner would earn INR 75,000 from the tournament. The hero of the Match for each game would earn an additional INR 5,000.
This will also be the first time when a rolling trophy would be instituted for the Indian Women’s League. Elaborating further on this AIFF’s League CEO Sunando Dhar said, “A rolling trophy is something which always augurs well with players and the contest gets intense amongst them. To align the premier women’s league competition in India with other leagues, we have decided to shift to a running trophy this season and it’ll surely push the girls further to give an extra bit on the field to lift it on 14th February.”
KSFA president N.A. Harris lauded AIFF’s decision to organise the final round of the tournament in Bengaluru. “On behalf of the KSFA (Karnataka State Football Association), I would like to thank AIFF for choosing Bengaluru as the host for the final round of IWL 2019-20. It’ll surely give a chance of the football-loving crowd of Bengaluru witness the best women football players in action over the next few days,” said N.A. Harris.
He further added, “Two teams representing Bengaluru in IWL isn’t only going to help women’s football in Karnataka but also will add a bounty point for the entire tournament. It’ll surely inspire more girls from the state of Karnataka to play the beautiful game with more urge and seriousness.”
The garden city of Bengaluru becomes the fourth city to host the Hero Indian Women’s League after the previous three editions were held at New Delhi (2016-17), Shillong (2017-18) and Ludhiana (2018-19). Eastern Sporting Union from Manipur emerged as the champions of inaugural edition before Rising Student’s Club from Odisha beat them in the final the following season (2017-18). In 2018-19, Sethu FC, the Tamil Nadu outfit, outplayed Manipur Police in the final to win their maiden IWL crown.
Speaking about the growth of Indian Women’s Football and how the Indian Women’s League has grown year after year, India Women’s head coach Maymol Rocky said, “the Indian women’s football is on an upward swing and I would like to thank the AIFF for all its efforts in helping the growth of Women’s football in India. With global tournaments like the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup scheduled to be played later this year in India, I am sure that we will get to see many more youngsters trying to make a career in football. The Hero IWL will be one of the key places for all of us to analyse talent and consider them for future roles with the national teams. The competition level in IWL has risen by leaps and bounds over the last three years and we hope to see another intriguing season of IWL here in Bengaluru. I wish all the teams best of luck for the upcoming tournament.”
All the matches will be streamed live on the Indian Football Team official Facebook page.(https://www.facebook.com/TheIndianFootballTeam/) .
The complete schedule is available on http://www.the-aiff.com.
Players in Photo above (From L-R): Astrid Pereira (Bidesh XI FC), Shyama Rani (BBK DAV FC), Poli Koley (Sreebhumi FC), Amoolya (Bangalore United FC), Priya Mistry (Baroda FA), Dangmei Grace (Kryphsa FC), Ashalata Devi (Sethu FC), Manpreet (Kickstart FC), Mrunal Khot (FC Kolhapur), Karishma Oram (Odisha FC), Michel Castanha (Gokulam Kerala FC), Soumya Guguloth (Kenkre FC).
