Football
SAFF Women's Championship 2022: Preview, Schedule, India Squad, Live Stream
Here's everything you need to know about SAFF Women's Championship 2022.
Indian Women's football team after arriving at Kathmandu, Nepal. (Source: AIFF Media team)
With the ban lifted and a new committee in place, India can now focus on the SAFF Women's Championships. The sixth edition of the SAFF Women's Championships will take place in 2022. The tournament, which will take place in Nepal, will feature national women's teams from South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) member countries. It will begin on September 6, 2022, and conclude on September 19, 2022. The Indian women's team has won all five previous editions and therefore are potent ones to maintain their title, but will face competition from Bangladesh, Maldives, and Sri Lanka.
Preview
On September 7, the Blue Tigresses coached by Suren Chhetri will kick off their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan. It will also be the first international match for the Pakistan women's football team in eight years, as they last competed at the 2014 SAFF Women's Championship, which Pakistan hosted.
Their best finish was as semifinalists in the inaugural tournament, where they were routed 8-0 by India itself, thanks to a Bala Devi hat-trick.
The Blue Tigresses will play their second game of group A against the Maldives National Women's team who have played all the previous editions of the tournament. Their best finish to the tournament was in 2016, when they were sunk 6-0 by Bangladesh.
India have faced Maldives in a total of five times across all the tournaments, bringing home four wins and a lone draw with their most recent being a 5-0 win in the South Asian Games in 2019.
India will face Bangladesh on September 13 in the ultimate round-robin encounter, as the 2016 final will be repeated between the sides. The fourth edition of the tournament saw Bangladesh's best finish' as the runners up losing 3-1 to the hosts India.
Playing a total of 10 games against the Blue Tigresses, the cross border rivals have managed to salvage only one draw while rest nine have resulted in losses with the latest being India beating Bangladesh 4-0 to enter their fifth edition of SAFF Women's Championship in 2019.
Schedule
Sep 7: India vs Pakistan, 12.45 PM IST
Sep 10: Maldives vs India, 5.15 PM IST
Sep 13: India vs Bangladesh, 5.15 PM IST
Squad
A 23 member squad travelled to Kathmandu on Saturday where they will be joined by FC Nasaf's Dangmei Grace.
Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Maibam Linthoingambi Devi, Sowmiya Narayanasamy.
Defenders: Sweety Devi, Ritu Rani, Ashalata Devi, Ranjana Chanu, Manisa Panna, Michel Castanha, Juli Kishan, Santosh.
Midfielders: Anju Tamang, Priyangka Devi, Martina Thokchom, Sandhiya Ranganathan, Kashmina, Ratanbala Devi.
Forwards: Dular Marandi, Apurna Narzary, Soumya Guguloth, Renu, Kiran Pisda, Dangmei Grace.
Live Stream
The live-stream of the games will be available on Elevensports.com.
