Ashalata Devi set to become first Indian woman to play 100 international football matches when she takes the field against Pakistan in the SAFF Championships 2024.
The defender and skipper of Blue Tigresses will also become only the second Indian footballer to earn 100 international caps after Indian men’s football team legend Sunil Chhetri, who retired earlier this year after playing in 151 matches.
She made her senior debut in 2011 against Bangladesh in a pre-Olympics match in Dhaka. She was a part of the Indian team that won South Asian Games gold medals in 2016 and 2019 and the SAFF Women’s Championships four times in succession – 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019.
In 2015, she signed for Maldivian football club New Radiant in the Dhivehi Premier League, becoming only the second Indian woman to play for an overseas club after Bembem.
She won the Indian Women’s League thrice – 2018-19 with Sethu FC and 2021-22 and 2022-23 with Gokulam Kerala.
She was named AIFF Women’s Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season.
In 2019, she was also in the final three-player shortlist for the AFC Player of the Year award alongside the People’s Republic of China’s Li Ying and eventual winner Japan’s Saki Kumagai.
Picture Courtesy: AIFF Media
