AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: The Indian senior women's team have begun their first national camp under the tutelage of new coach Crispin Chettri in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, in preparation for the Pink Ladies Cup, a friendly tournament to be held from 20-26 February in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

A former youth international, Crispin brings four years of experience of coaching women's football, honing some of the country's best players and winning silverware. The 44-year-old's key achievements include leading Odisha FC, his current club, to their first Indian Women's League and the Odisha Women's League title, winning the National Games Gold Medal with Odisha, as well as finishing runners-up in the IWL with Sethu FC. With the Juggernauts, Crispin made history by qualifying for the group stage of the AFC Women's Champions League earlier this season, the first for an Indian club.

The national camp began on February 8 after the IWL paused for the international break. Crispin, who is operating on a dual coaching role with Odisha FC and India, spoke to the-aiff.com from Anantapur.

Q. Coach, congratulations on being appointed as the Indian women's national team coach. Tell us a bit about your initial thoughts on being part of the national team.

Crispin Chettri: I think it's a pinnacle in coaching to be the head coach of the national team. It's what we always work towards as a coach. As a player also, you want to be in the national team. I'm really grateful, humbled and thrilled to be part of this journey of women's football and its growth.

Q. You've been a coach in women's football for four years now. So just give us a bit of a brief about how that journey has been so far.

CC: It's been a terrific journey. I think it was a blessing to come into women's football. I never thought of the national team, I wanted to stay here and see the growth from year to year. I am really thankful to all the female coaches who I've worked with because they have helped me understand what women's football is all about.

To be honest, I think women's football is growing rapidly. From a centralised venue to now home and away matches in the IWL. Look at the difference, Gokulam Kerala used to win 8-0, 10-0, and so on. From last year, it has been more competitive. The games are much closer. Look at Kickstart. They are one of the best teams right now. But they have just been unlucky not to win any game so far. So that means there's more competitiveness and now we have a bigger pool to select players from. I think the coaches in IWL are doing a great job.

Q. Coming now to the camp in Anantapur. It's been a few days since you took charge. How are things going?

CC: We began training on February 8. Players arrived to the national camp gradually as their IWL commitments ended. Just two days ago we got to know that certain players would not be joining the camp because of the All India Police Meet. I can't help it. But as a coach, I have to start making the team with the available players. This is a bit out of the blue because usually they are released to attend the camp, but I think they have their own obligations. I think it also comes down to government policies and all. I don't have anything to say against this, but in the long run, I'll keep this in mind and plan and select my probables accordingly.

When we think of it, we have lost many talented players because of their jobs. They couldn't continue playing because they have to be stable financially. That's the basic point. So I think if the policies are good, we might get better players also.

I think it's a very interesting camp. We have a very good mixture of young talents, some senior players and some new faces as well. For the national team jersey, I think every woman player, whoever is playing all over India, even if it's the college level, deserves a chance. It's not necessary that the IWL players are good enough. There are talents everywhere. In the Women's National Team, I want to give opportunity to all the players who are giving their hearts out for the love of the game. So I want to try them out. This time, I have invited two, three players from Tamil Nadu (Priyadarshini S), Assam (Rupali Boro) and Uttarakhand (Anjana Thapa), who have been scouted by our federation scouts. I'm in close contact with the scouts.

Q. You were at Sethu FC in the past and are currently with Odisha FC. You've worked with plenty of women footballers who are part of this camp as well. So how much is that helping you right now?

CC: Knowing these players for a long time, I think, has helped me a lot to understand their mentality. Like you said, I have worked with players like Bala (Devi) and Indumathi (Kathiresan). I think they are the pioneers of women's football in India. They have carried a lot of weight on themselves to bring women's football to this stage. Be it Ashalata (Devi), Aditi (Chauhan), Dalima (Chhibber), and all. They have worked very hard.

I think now it's the time for me as a coach to suffer, we as a federation to suffer, as a football-loving nation to suffer because we have to have a transition period right now. Because if you want to go to the highest level and play regularly in the Asian Cup or be part of the World Cup in the future, we have to have a transition phase where not many people are going to like me or the federation. But we have to have those tough decisions.

We have the likes of Sweety (Devi), Sanju, Panthoi (Chanu), Shreya (Hooda), Dangmei (Grace) and Soumya (Guguloth) who are among seniors. And at the same time, we have the likes of Lynda (Kom) Thoibisana (Chanu), Kajol (Dsouza) and Babina (Devi), who are up and coming players. Malavika was doing well in the IWL this year, so we have got her. We have got Purnima also from Sethu FC. So there are a lot of young and promising footballers. I have seen our U17 team play and train very closely when Thomas (Dennerby) was there. So I think I can bring some of those players in this squad because I know they are good. I think we can create a pathway for them.

Q. We see a lot of young players who have clocked a lot of minutes for the Indian youth teams from the U17 to U20 levels. They are also given a lot of chances in the IWL. How helpful is that for the senior national team?

CC: I think now it's time for us as the federation, as coaches, to give them confidence. Some of the IWL coaches are doing a really great job by giving opportunities to these players. For example, I see Mousumi Murmu and Rimpa Haldar from Bengal. I see that energy, that desire, hunger. I think the national team should be like that. Everyone should be fighting for the jersey. No one is here to stay forever, not the players, not even me. Everyone has to earn that jersey.

Q. The women's league system in India has undergone a significant revamp. Now have two tiers in women's football, the IWL and IWL 2 as well. In a broader context as a national team coach, how does that help you?

CC: I think it will help a lot of players to get game time. With only eight teams, you'll have only a certain group of players playing the IWL. Now we have IWL 2 also. For the coaches and scouts, there's a larger pool of players to select from. Diversity is always welcome because you have larger things to look at. There are teams from all over the country in the IWL and the IWL 2, which gives a lot of exposure to players.

Q. Let's come to the first assignment you have on hand as the national team coach, the Pink Ladies Cup in the UAE. Tell us a little bit about your opponents and what you think of them - Jordan, Russia and Korea Republic.

CC: This is the second edition of the Pink Ladies Cup. First of all, I am really grateful to the federation that we are going to this tournament. Because to be the best, you have to play with the best. You have to understand how the best people work, how professional they are. Just for context, I (Odisha FC) played against Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) in the AFC Women's Champions League this season. I got to know what football is about. They are so professional, not only on the field, but off the field also. The attitude of the players. So there was a lot of learning for me there. And now when we are playing teams like Korea and Russia, we'll get game time against some of the best.

I don't have to tell anything to the players who were with me in the AWCL in Vietnam because they know the standard. I think this tournament will be an eye opener for many of our players because they will get to know the standard. I think Korea is completely different from Russia. I watched their videos. Russia has a different kind of playing style. But when it comes to Korea, they are quick in transitions. So I think we have to adapt to two different kinds of playing styles. Our focus is to be competitive in Asia. If we can be in the top 10 in the continent, we can be closer to qualifying for the World Cup. Playing against different sorts of teams like Jordan, Korea and Russia will give us a clearer picture of creating a pool of players for playing against different teams.

Right now, I am really focusing on maintaining the fitness levels and preventing injuries so that I can have all fit players to play this tournament. We need players who can defend well, who can run 90 minutes and press and play. It's also a good opportunity for me to prepare tactically for the future. You can't guarantee success but you can work towards success.

Q. Our first game is against Jordan. That's a team closer to our level. We've beaten them in the past also. So how important do you think it would be to start on the right foot? If we get that win, it will be a big confidence boost.

CC: Jordan are a team that you can beat if you have a good day. But they can also beat us if they have a good day. We can show a lot of quality in these kinds of matches. We are preparing for Jordan already. I know how they play. We shouldn't look at the FIFA Rankings. There isn't much difference in quality and we can beat them with the right mindset. We have to build that winning culture, that mentality. That's my priority right now. We have to give our 100 per cent on the field in every situation. Even when we lose the ball or concede the goal, we need to keep a positive attitude.

Q. The Pink Ladies Cup is a tournament we're using to prepare for the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, which is our main task for this year. The format is a bit tricky, in a centralised location with three or four opponents and only the group winners making it through. Although we are yet to know the teams we'll face, how important are these games as we prepare for the qualifiers?

CC: A centralised venue has both advantages and disadvantages. Advantage in a sense is that you don't have to travel too much. You get acclimated to the environment quickly. But also, you hardly get time to prepare for the next match because the schedule is tight. So whatever preparation time we have in advance is the only time where we can get ready for these three or four matches. If we have a longer camp, we can prepare in advance. As such, this is an important tournament to test ourselves against top level teams.

I see the youngsters and new players giving a lot of effort because they want to prove themselves. That has injected a lot of energy in the training sessions. I am really happy with this group. We have a long way to go. In sports, there's nothing like failure. If we start winning matches regularly against teams of our level, we will soon be in the top 10 of Asia which will open up our path for the World Cup. Last time, we qualified as hosts for the Asian Cup but that shouldn't always be the case. We should play, win and qualify on merit deservingly.