In a first for women’s football in India, Gokulam Kerala FC will represent India at the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021, which starts in Jordan on Sunday.
Also known as the FIFA–AFC Pilot Women's Club Championship, the tournament is Asia’s marquee women’s football club competition.
All matches will be played at the Aqaba Development Corporate Stadium in Amman.
The first edition of the AFC Women’s Club Championship was held in 2019 in South Korea with Japanese club Nippon TV Beleza beating China’s Jiangsu Suning to the title. It was not held last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament will once again feature four teams – India’s Gokulam Kerala FC, Uzbekistan’s FC Bunyodkor, Iran’s Shahrdari Sirjan and Jordan’s Amman SC. All four sides are the reigning domestic champions in their respective countries.
This will be the first time a team from India will feature in a continental women’s club tournament of this magnitude.
Gokulam Kerala FC, also called the Malabarians, are the 2019-20 Indian Women's League (IWL) winners and also the reigning champions since the 2020-21 IWL season was postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19.
Coached by Priya PV, Gokulam’s 23-member squad includes national team stars like Aditi Chauhan, Dalima Chhibber and Dangmei Grace among others.
With foreign players allowed for the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021, the Gokulam management has also recruited five overseas players.
Ghanaian duo Susan Duah and Elshaddai Acheampong, Puerto Rico’s Adriana Tirado, Myanmar’s Win Theingi Tun and Colombia’s Karen Steffany make up the Indian team’s foreign contingent.
In the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021, every team plays each other once in a round-robin format. The club which tops the table, wins the title.
AFC Women's Club Championship 2021: Gokulam Kerala FC’s schedule, fixtures and live match start times for India
All times are in Indian Standard Time (IST)
November 7, Sunday
Gokulam Kerala FC vs Amman Club (Jordan) – 10:30 PM IST
November 10, Wednesday
Gokulam Kerala FC vs Shahrdari Sirjan (Iran) – 7:30 PM IST
November 13, Saturday
Gokulam Kerala FC vs FC Bunyodkur (Uzbekistan) – 7:30 PM IST
Where to watch AFC Women's Club Championship 2021 live in India?
Live streaming of the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021, including Gokulam Kerala FC's matches, will be available on the official Jordan FA YouTube channel. There will be no live telecast of the matches in India.
Gokulam Kerala FC squad for AFC Women's Club Championship 2021
Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Shreya Hooda, Heera Getha Raj
Defenders: Ranjana Chanu, Manju Baby, Ritu Rani, Femina Raj, Michel Castanha, Sonali Chemate, Susan Duah (Ghana)
Midfielders: Dalima Chhibber, Soumya Guguloth, Adriana Tirado (Puerto Rico), Manisha, Kashmina, Anushka Samuel, Samiksha
Forwards: Win Theingi Tun (Myanmar), Dangmei Grace, Jyoti, Elshaddai Acheampong (Ghana), Karishma Shirvoikar, Karen Steffany (Colombia)