India’s remarkable Women's Asian Cup chance boosted by cricket team across town | Mrinal Asija | OneFootball

The Indian women’s football team’s quest for history got off to a bittersweet start in Perth on Wednesday. The players had put aside the off-field turbulence they faced in the lead-up to put up a strong fight on the field, only to concede an injury time goal and go down 1-2 to Vietnam.

Despite the result, the game was significant as a marker of how far the Blue Tigresses had come and where they could go, but also for the atmosphere they were greeted with at the Perth Rectangular Stadium.

However, the fans’ chanting and the players’ fierce display were in complete contrast to the dull, plain kits the players wore on the pitch. The team had to source makeshift uniforms locally three days out from the opening game after those sent by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) were in youth sizes.

The kit debacle is the latest and the most embarrassing manifestation of the broken system these women have emerged out of to make it to this tournament, which also doubles as a qualifier for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil. The players have not allowed the administrative issues and the resultant logistical hurdles to divert their attention from the test on the field, though.

India’s captain, Sweety Devi, put out the call to Perth’s Indian community to show up to support them, and one of those who answered was Curtin University student Sanskar Vyas, who said he was not disheartened by the scoreline.

“It was an amazing game, beautiful environment,” Vyas said. “I admire the crowd that showed up from the Vietnamese side. But [we] Indians, despite less in numbers, totally dominated the atmosphere as well, matched the aura, and supported the team so beautifully.”

The Asian nation of 1.4 billion people is yet to make an appearance at any senior Fifa World Cup. But over the next three weeks, its women have the opportunity to make that history.

At world No 63, India are the lowest-ranked side in group C. The loss to Vietnam makes their challenge stiffer with games against Japan and Taiwan to come and a quarter-finals finish required to be in contention for a ticket to Brazil 2027. But if their road to the Asian Cup is anything to go by, the Blue Tigresses are up for a fight. It took a win on the road over Thailand – who were then ranked 24 places higher – for India to book their place in the tournament in Australia.

Their qualification happened in parallel with Indian football’s biggest crisis, making it even more remarkable. The country’s top men’s competition, the Indian Super League, faced a six-month delay due to the AIFF’s failure to renew its commercial partnership as the Indian judiciary scrutinised its governance structure.

On-field performances from the men’s national team have brought no cheer either, the side failing to qualify for the 24-team 2027 Asian Cup by finishing at the bottom of a group where they were the highest-ranked side.

Indian football has been a hard to love even by fans of the sport. But some, like Perth-based Pruthiraj Patra, have stuck by their national team. Patra was delighted to have ticked watching the Blue Tigresses live off his bucket list.

“This is my first time watching the girls and I’m here with my friends so really felt good, especially because I have never been able to support them in person,” he said.

Indian fans in Perth are here for another reason too. The city is hosting the Test between the Australian and Indian women’s cricket teams starting Friday, making it a double treat for fans like Radha Lath Gupta, who has travelled from India to support the women in blue in studs and spikes alike. Lath Gupta, who is part of the Bucket Hatters, the Indian women’s cricket team’s fan group, says supporters of women’s sport are willing to transcend the demarcations of codes.

“To some extent, when you start following a women’s team you are doing it not because you have niche interests in that sport,” she said. “But it’s more because, well, in my case, people who look like me and grew up like me can do something really cool at a professional athletic level.”

Indian women’s football will also be hoping to borrow some inspiration from their cricketing counterparts, who were long considered the sleeping giants in the women’s game.

The giants finally woke up last year with an Women’s ODI World Cup win and the resultant thud was loud and impactful. It took no time for brands to line up to sign the stars of the winning team as ambassadors, whose social media following and commercial value both soared.

Cricket, however, has limited its own reach by design over much of its existence. Whereas football is truly a global sport, and if the world’s most populous country was to finally claim a spot on its biggest stage, what would result would not be a thud, but an earthquake.

Header image: [Photograph: Janelle St Pierre/Getty Images]