AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The senior India women’s national football team are back in action in the FIFA International Window, and are gearing up to face Jordan in the first match of the Pink Ladies Cup 2025, in Sharjah, UAE.

The Blue Tigresses, who are set to face Jordan on Thursday, February 20, 2025, landed in Sharjah on Tuesday. The match will kick off at 4.30 pm IST at the Al Hamriya Sports Club Stadium, and will be streamed live on fanzone.tv. India will play two more matches against Russia and the Korea Republic on February 23 and 26, respectively.

India head coach Crispin Chettri feels it imperative for his side to get the desired result in order to progress as a team at the continental level.

“Jordan have progressed in a good way over the last few years, but I think these are matches that we have to win if we want to progress,” said Chettri. “We have a good mix of young and experienced players, so it will be a competitive game.”

The Blue Tigresses had a 10-day camp in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, before travelling to Sharjah, where they will have two training sessions, before their first match. The 44-year-old feels that women’s football, especially the national team, has benefitted from the shift to a longer Indian Women’s League season.

“We could only get a 10-day camp before the Pink Ladies Cup, but the good thing is that the players are already in mid-season, so we don’t have to spend any time on their fitness,” he said. “We could straight away get into working on certain tactical areas and how to organise as a unit.

“We are setting up a base which we can further build on.”

Fullback Sanju was in agreement with the coach. She said, “This is something that we the players have benefitted from. Playing regular matches is the most important thing, and we have been doing that in the IWL. Now that we are in the national team, we can straight away get into playing our system, rather than spend time on fitness. Every player is in peak physical form.”

India are ranked 13th in Asia (69th in the world), while Jordan are 14th in the continent (74th in the world). Chettri, however, brushed aside talks of the difference in rankings of the teams, choosing instead to focus on the fact that the Blue Tigresses are currently seeing a transitional phase.

“It’s a transitional phase for the team, where we have brought in a lot of new players. We are all willing to suffer for the overall good of the team,” said Chettri. “I think it’s important to support and encourage these girls because most of them are breaking a lot of barriers just by being here. We must focus on the positives right now.”

The two sides have played three matches against each other, having won one each, and drawing one match.