Fan analysis

From Nadir to Blueprint: The 2022–2026 Cycle of Indian Women’s Football

From a historical perspective, a 4-year cycle provides great insight. It still feels like yesterday when women’s football in India faced its nadir: a host disqualified from a continental tournament in the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup. Amends were made in the next edition, and we saw ourselves back in the continental tournament in 2026 across all possible age groups.A massive achievement. The U-17 women’s team added a feather in the cap by reaching all the way to the quarterfinals of the continental tournament. At the club level, Indian clubs like East Bengal FC have started shining in the AFC Women's Champions League and won the SAFF Club Championship. But behind all of this is the story of our domestic leagues. Often, it feels like in the past 4 years, we took two steps forward and one step back. The home-and-away format in the Indian Women’s League, the formation of the second tier (IWL 2), and the start of club youth leagues were steps taken in the right direction. However, the inconsistent approach to the calendar for women's tournaments, a lack of sponsors for women’s leagues, and irregular coaching appointments made it feel as though we were treating women’s football as a checkbox rather than a distinct discipline. All that started changing this year when Capri Sports acquired the commercial development and marketing rights for the IWL and IWL 2 in a 15-year partnership model. Let’s face the facts on why this is so critical: women’s football is not financially viable right now, suffering from a long off-season and surviving largely through patrons who inject money without expecting returns. For many clubs, it is a CSR activity to balance the books. For many players, it is an avenue to explore a future career in the government sector. Do not be surprised when you hear of clubs battling government organizations for player NOCs. There are no clear pathways for young players to achieve success and remain financially secure in Indian women’s football. The season is mostly unplanned and unpredictable. While men’s football enjoys a large following, women’s football fans remain a rarity. National tournaments are frequently organized at the whims of the federation, and calendars are often published but never implemented for the top tier. It is not surprising that these systemic issues have bred widespread apathy toward both the players and the game. A glimmer of hope arrived when Capri Sports took over the reins of the domestic leagues. Capri Sports is an established entity in sports management for female athletes, and they have wasted no time addressing the key issues plaguing women’s football in India. First and foremost, the women’s game needs awareness. To tackle this, they have streamlined social media coverage and secured a broadcasting partnership with SportVot. A sensible approach to increase visibility. The second critical step was bringing a title sponsor on board. Lxme, a financial planning platform for women, was brought in almost immediately, ending a three-year title sponsor drought and offering greater stability to players, clubs, and supporters. The third and most vital element was formalizing the competitive calendar. The importance of this cannot be overstated. A reliable calendar, if strictly implemented, solves numerous structural issues.It allows clubs to sign players on deals, guarantees regular game time to players, and attracts both commercial partners and fans. Most importantly, it lays a solid foundation for the sport nationwide. Let’s hope this aligns India with the global rise in popularity that women’s football is currently enjoying. In a few years, we should see young girls pursuing football as a viable, full-time career supported by a robust domestic structure. The day is not far off when we will see many Manisha Kalyans competing both at home and abroad. A World Cup appearance for Indian football may well be realized by the women's team first. Let's hope to see that foundation set during this cycle.

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