Kerala is hosting the Senior Women’s National Football Championship in Kannur and Kozhikode. The tournament has been dominated by Manipur since its inception in 1991-92, who have won it on 20 of the 25 occasions.
The Kerala Football Association (KFA) have announced the return of the state women’s league, which will be held next month after a seven-year hiatus while Gokulam Kerala are now the reigning Indian Women’s League champions.
Head coach Amrutha Aravind said, “There are plenty of improvements and we have a very young and promising squad this season. Our objective for this season is to reach the semifinals after a long time.”
For the tournament as many as 32 teams are divided into eight groups with Kerala starting their Group G engagement against Mizoram at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode.
“The margin for error is minimal. But playing in familiar surroundings will be to our advantage. Returning to the pitch after a gap of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic also makes things very interesting as we do not know what to expect from any of the sides.” said Amrutha.
In the 2006-07 edition at Rourkela, Kerala’s best effort so far has been finishing second best to Manipur.
