The Indian women’s football team jumped four places to be at 56th in the FIFA ranking issued on Friday.
The Indian team is ranked at 13th among Asian Football Confederation countries, sandwiched between Iran and Hong Kong.
“It’s heartening to see the women’s team rise in FIFA rankings and congratulations. Development of women’s football is one of our priorities,” AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said.
National coach Maymol Rocky said: “We’ve seen successes as well as have faced quite a few tough competitions of late. The rise in FIFA rankings reflects our hard work which is being put in by the team relentlessly.”
“Bringing in new blood and creating competition for places in the team has been a process and I’m pleased we are moving in the right direction,” he said.
Indian football women's football may be moving in the right direction, though not sure how much of the credit goes to KD...He is well, err, as someone said, ' an embarrassment for Indian football'.
AIFF apathy sees Indian women’s football team with no SAFF prize money
The Indian women’s football team claimed its fourth straight South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship title in January, but is yet to get its promised prize money by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
There is a buzz in Indian football as the country gears up to stage the FIFA Under-17 World Cup next month. However, there is little to cheer in the women’s national team, which lives in the shadows.
The Indian women’s national football team won the SAFF Championship held from December 26 to January 4 at Siliguri. However, members of the triumphant team are eagerly waiting for the day when the All India Football Federation (AIFF) will open its purse to give them Rs 25 lakh in prize money promised if they won.
The AIFF splurged around Rs. 4 crore last month to stage a tri-nation invitational tournament in Mumbai, featuring Mauritius and St Kitts and Nevis, 160 and 125 in the Fifa world rankings. The national body also lost around Rs 65-70 lakh after a forced venue change from Chennai. Despite all this, Indian men’s team could not hang on to their top-100 ranking.
However, the AIFF bosses have completely ignored the women’s team despite their emerging the South Asian champions.
It has been almost nine months since the Indian national women’s football team led by goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan outplayed Bangladesh 3-1 to win the title for the fourth consecutive time. But the federation hasn’t given them the promised cash incentive.
In fact, the players were not even given daily allowance during the competition.
Backlash feared
The players are scared to speak on the issue fearing a backlash from the AIFF. “If the federation comes to know I have given you some inputs on the subject, my name will be struck off the national team,” said a team member pleading anonymity.
According to the player, the federation had collected details of bank account and PAN card, yet there hasn’t been any transfer of funds. “In this digital age, how long does it take for money to be transferred from one account to another?” she asked.
After winning the SAFF title, the women’s team rose to 54 in the Fifa rankings. At the launch of women’s professional league in January, AIFF president Praful Patel had said better ranking would give the national team an outside chance to directly qualify for the 2019 World Cup.
“Our women’s team is ranked 54, which is higher than the men’s (129). This means for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2019, if we put in the right effort, our women’s team will have an outside chance to qualify before the men. This in itself will be a huge achievement,” Patel said.
Each player will get only around Rs 1 lakh each, but it will still mean a lot to them. “It gives a feeling the federation supports you,” says a team member.
Team manager on defensive
Indu Choudhary, the team manager, says the delay doesn’t mean the federation will not fulfil its promise. She says in the past too there have been such delays but the players have been paid their dues. “The players will certainly get the dues as the process is on. There are certain formalities to be done. The moment it is complete, the money will be transferred to the account of the players,” she told Hindustan Times over phone.
When pointed out that it has been close to nine months, she argued the delay could be due to the furnishing of wrong account details by the players.
On the AIFF not having paid daily allowance, she said she had no idea, but the federation doesn’t hold back the money. “The federation is supporting the players,” she added.
AIFF secretary Kushal Das said he was busy in a meeting.
In September, Oinam Bembem Devi became only the second woman footballer to receive an Arjuna award (the first was Shanti Mullick in 1983).
Known as the ‘Durga of Indian football’, Devi started playing at the age of eight, with boys from her neighbourhood in Imphal.
“I can say with confidence that living in a society in which girls and boys are not seen as very different helps a lot,” says Devi, 37. “Playing every day, against boys, in those early years helped me build speed, power and confidence.”
Her first break came when she was selected for the Manipur U13 girls’ team in 1991. By ’96, she was playing for India in the Asian Games.
As captain, she led the women’s team to gold twice in the South Asian games, in 2010 and 2016.
“Manipuri girls have great stamina,” she says, grinning. “In an endurance test where you can pass with 20 points and the average for a national player is 25, I have often seen Manipuri girls score 40 and above. If someone scores a 50, my first guess would be she is from Manipur.”
It helps that the list of challenges a sportswoman faces is shorter in Manipur.
“I remember a promising player from Tamil Nadu quitting the national team because her family felt it was time she got married,” Devi says. “In Manipur, the discussions are very different. A woman playing at the national level is a matter of pride for the family and the entire neighbourhood. When a fellow Manipuri footballer married, she came to an agreement with her husband’s family that she would continue training and playing. In fact, their main request had nothing to do with her career — they wanted her to wear the traditional phanek and enaphi [a fitting blouse and a wraparound skirt] when attending cultural and family events.”
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The Indian women’s football team jumped four places to be at 56th in the FIFA ranking issued on Friday.
The Indian team is ranked at 13th among Asian Football Confederation countries, sandwiched between Iran and Hong Kong.
“It’s heartening to see the women’s team rise in FIFA rankings and congratulations. Development of women’s football is one of our priorities,” AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das said.
National coach Maymol Rocky said: “We’ve seen successes as well as have faced quite a few tough competitions of late. The rise in FIFA rankings reflects our hard work which is being put in by the team relentlessly.”
“Bringing in new blood and creating competition for places in the team has been a process and I’m pleased we are moving in the right direction,” he said.
Indian football women's football may be moving in the right direction, though not sure how much of the credit goes to KD...He is well, err, as someone said, ' an embarrassment for Indian football'.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/football/aiff-apathy-sees-indian-women-s-football-team-with-no-saff-prize-money/story-DE5DozUEiVndY9kkjxd1EO.html
AIFF apathy sees Indian women’s football team with no SAFF prize money
The Indian women’s football team claimed its fourth straight South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship title in January, but is yet to get its promised prize money by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
The Indian women’s national football team won the SAFF Championship held from December 26 to January 4 at Siliguri. However, members of the triumphant team are eagerly waiting for the day when the All India Football Federation (AIFF) will open its purse to give them Rs 25 lakh in prize money promised if they won.
The AIFF splurged around Rs. 4 crore last month to stage a tri-nation invitational tournament in Mumbai, featuring Mauritius and St Kitts and Nevis, 160 and 125 in the Fifa world rankings. The national body also lost around Rs 65-70 lakh after a forced venue change from Chennai. Despite all this, Indian men’s team could not hang on to their top-100 ranking.
However, the AIFF bosses have completely ignored the women’s team despite their emerging the South Asian champions.
It has been almost nine months since the Indian national women’s football team led by goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan outplayed Bangladesh 3-1 to win the title for the fourth consecutive time. But the federation hasn’t given them the promised cash incentive.
In fact, the players were not even given daily allowance during the competition.
Backlash feared
The players are scared to speak on the issue fearing a backlash from the AIFF. “If the federation comes to know I have given you some inputs on the subject, my name will be struck off the national team,” said a team member pleading anonymity.
According to the player, the federation had collected details of bank account and PAN card, yet there hasn’t been any transfer of funds. “In this digital age, how long does it take for money to be transferred from one account to another?” she asked.
After winning the SAFF title, the women’s team rose to 54 in the Fifa rankings. At the launch of women’s professional league in January, AIFF president Praful Patel had said better ranking would give the national team an outside chance to directly qualify for the 2019 World Cup.
“Our women’s team is ranked 54, which is higher than the men’s (129). This means for the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2019, if we put in the right effort, our women’s team will have an outside chance to qualify before the men. This in itself will be a huge achievement,” Patel said.
Each player will get only around Rs 1 lakh each, but it will still mean a lot to them. “It gives a feeling the federation supports you,” says a team member.
Team manager on defensive
Indu Choudhary, the team manager, says the delay doesn’t mean the federation will not fulfil its promise. She says in the past too there have been such delays but the players have been paid their dues. “The players will certainly get the dues as the process is on. There are certain formalities to be done. The moment it is complete, the money will be transferred to the account of the players,” she told Hindustan Times over phone.
When pointed out that it has been close to nine months, she argued the delay could be due to the furnishing of wrong account details by the players.
On the AIFF not having paid daily allowance, she said she had no idea, but the federation doesn’t hold back the money. “The federation is supporting the players,” she added.
AIFF secretary Kushal Das said he was busy in a meeting.
In September, Oinam Bembem Devi became only the second woman footballer to receive an Arjuna award (the first was Shanti Mullick in 1983).
Known as the ‘Durga of Indian football’, Devi started playing at the age of eight, with boys from her neighbourhood in Imphal.
“I can say with confidence that living in a society in which girls and boys are not seen as very different helps a lot,” says Devi, 37. “Playing every day, against boys, in those early years helped me build speed, power and confidence.”
Her first break came when she was selected for the Manipur U13 girls’ team in 1991. By ’96, she was playing for India in the Asian Games.
As captain, she led the women’s team to gold twice in the South Asian games, in 2010 and 2016.
“Manipuri girls have great stamina,” she says, grinning. “In an endurance test where you can pass with 20 points and the average for a national player is 25, I have often seen Manipuri girls score 40 and above. If someone scores a 50, my first guess would be she is from Manipur.”
It helps that the list of challenges a sportswoman faces is shorter in Manipur.
“I remember a promising player from Tamil Nadu quitting the national team because her family felt it was time she got married,” Devi says. “In Manipur, the discussions are very different. A woman playing at the national level is a matter of pride for the family and the entire neighbourhood. When a fellow Manipuri footballer married, she came to an agreement with her husband’s family that she would continue training and playing. In fact, their main request had nothing to do with her career — they wanted her to wear the traditional phanek and enaphi [a fitting blouse and a wraparound skirt] when attending cultural and family events.”