‘FIFA World Cup dream seem to be turning into reality’: Aditi Chauhan on Indian women’s football rise

Bengaluru: Former India goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan was full of joy while speaking of the India women’s senior national team’s recent qualification for the AFC Asia Cup 2026 in Australia.

Their qualification for the Continental Cup marked the first time the Women in Blue have qualified for the tournament through the qualifiers route, with their last appearance in the tournament coming in 2003. Alongside, the India U20 women’s national team secured qualification for the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup for the first time in 20 years.

In an exclusive conversation with IANS, Aditi spoke on the progress of women’s football, seeing her dream of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup inch closer and talked about the amazing work being done by her organisation – ‘She Kicks’

“Recently India made history when they qualified for the Asia Cup on merit, the U17 team won the SAFF Championship, and the U20 team qualified for the Asia Cup as well. It was about time, we have been talking for years that the women’s team will qualify for the FIFA World Cup before the men’s and our dreams seem to be turning into reality.

“If we reach the FIFA World Cup, perform well in the Asia Cup then women’s football will receive a much needed push to extract the potential of our country. I also hope that by me talking about it and sharing my experience with the media will encourage more people to help us take women’s football to the next level,” Aditi told IANS.

Having gone through a 17-year career, unlike any before her, Aditi hung up her playing boots earlier this year. She went on to share about the learnings and experiences from the game that she has incorporated into her life.

“There have been lots of highs and lows, and the lows were definitely more than the highs, it has not been easy to make a career in women’s football in India, there were many challenges. The experiences I have gotten on the field as a goalkeeper, I have learnt how to move on and think ahead, I have incorporated them into my life. One of my biggest learnings is to ‘control the controllable,” she added.

Aditi was the first Indian women’s player to represent the nation in a European League when she joined West Ham United, which she was able to do while pursuing a master’s degree in sports management from Loughborough University.

“My journey was full of challenges. When I decided to go abroad to study Sports Management was in 2014 when I was already a part of the senior women’s team. I had thankfully realised that I wanted to have a career in sports. I started going for trials in London, while I was interning, and then I got an opportunity with West Ham United,” said Aditi.

An initiative of the Aditi Chauhan Foundation, the former India goalkeeper views ‘She Kicks’ as the legacy she wants to leave in the footballing world and urged more people to support her movement in hopes of bettering women’s football in the country.

“I started ‘She Kicks Football League’ because I wanted to pass on my knowledge from not just the sport but from my education as well. ‘She Kicks’ is my legacy, we have also started our academy. My focus is only on creating opportunities for the women and I hope we will get more support as we go on from sponsors and investment so we can go to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well,” Aditi concluded.

IANS