Manisha Kalyan: First Indian footballer to win a European league title

Manisha Kalyan etched her name in the history books after she became the first Indian footballer to lift a European league championship. She achieved the feat after winning the Cypriot First Division, Cyprus' top division for women's football, with Apollon Ladies FC.

On 26th March, 2023, Apollon Ladies defeated Lefkothea 4-0 in their final game of the 2022-23 season to emerge as the invincible champions of the league after successfully winning all the 20 games, without even drawing a single match.

The Cypriot side scored a massive 114 goals, out of which Kalyan contributed six. For an Indian's first season at a European league, 21-year-old Manisha did extremely well to get a total of 14 goal contributions (six goals, eight assists), that too in just 17 appearances.

The Indian joined Apollon ahead of the now concluded season, and even became the first Indian to play in the UEFA Champions League after getting some minutes against Latvia's SFK Riga during the competition's qualifying round.

Before moving to Cyprus, Kalyan had already cemented her position in Indian Football, both at the club level as well as the national team level. She was with the Indian Women's League outfit Gokulam Kerala for a few seasons, with who she even went on to win two titles.

Moreover, she made the headlines after scoring India's first ever goal, across men or women and any age-level, against Brazil in their 1-6 defeat to the South American nation in 2021.