In a major boost to women's football, the All India Football Federation on Tuesday announced the launch of Indian Women's league that will feature six teams in its first season.
Speaking on the occasion, the AIFF president Praful Patel said that the creation of this league would bring about an era of professionalism in women's football, as a result of which players could look at the sport as a good career option.
The six teams are FC Pune City (Maharashtra), Eastern Sporting Union FC (Manipur), FC Alakhpura (Haryana), Aizawl FC (Mizoram) and Rising Student Club (Odisha).
India captain Bala Devi expressed satisfaction over the AIFF's decision to carve out this league, "We have been demanding a league of this kind for many years and we are happy that AIFF has supported us."
Meanwhile, captain of Aizawl K lalruaizeli too felt that the league would give a boost to the sport in her home state. "In Mizoram football is very popular but is mostly played by boys only. With the arrival of this league, women of the state will also take up football."
Dalima Chibber, who is a local girl and captain of Pune city, was also optimistic about the future of the sport in India. "Because of this league, girls and their parents would look upon football as a viable career option and there would be more participation in it."
While the tournament is set to kick off on 28th January at the Ambedkar stadium in the capital, Patel said that there would be changes in league moving forward. The name of the league is likely to be changed in order to include the word football and the number of teams would also be increased.