Against the odds: East Bengal’s historic breakthrough in Asia

It was 10pm on Saturday, November 7, and the festive spirit of Diwali was in the air in Kolkata.

For East Bengal, there was another reason to celebrate.

The Red and Gold had etched their name into history, becoming the first Indian club to reach the AFC Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.

It was a monumental achievement and another significant step in the steady progress of women’s football in India, as the Red and Gold brigade proved they belong among the continent’s elite.

A journey that started back in August in Sabah’s Kota Kinabalu is now set to continue in 2027. Having comfortably seen off Bangladesh’s Rajshahi Stars 4-0 and Rovers FC of Guam 12-0 in their opening two fixtures, East Bengal’s decider was against hosts Sabah at the Likas Stadium.

After a closely fought first half, the Kolkata giants showed their quality in the second half when goals from Olivia Anokye and Soumya Guguloth guided them to a 2-0 victory and a place in the AWCL group stage for the second successive season.

In the group stage, East Bengal were placed in an extremely difficult-looking Group B, which consisted of the reigning champions of Korea Republic, DPR Korea and Vietnam – Hwacheon KSPO, 4.25 SC and Ho Chi Minh City FC, respectively.

But at least, the reigning Indian Women’s League (IWL) champions had the advantage of playing on their home turf at Kishore Bharati Krirangan, although the odds were stacked against them even before a ball was kicked.

The opponents for the group stage opener were Ho Chi Minh City and upon kickoff, one would be forgiven for thinking that East Bengal were up against the Vietnam national team, with HCMC’s primary colour of Red with Yellow accents eerily similar to the national team and even boasting the nation’s all-time top scorer Huỳnh Như in their ranks.

This was also an HCMC team that had reached the semi-finals of the inaugural edition of the AWCL in 2024/25, so East Bengal knew they were up against it but needed to get a positive result as tougher opponents lay in wait.

Anthony Andrews’ side played fearless football and they were rewarded for it when Fazila Ikwaput’s first-half brace put the hosts in the driver’s seat heading into the break.

Although HCMC pulled one back on the hour mark, East Bengal deserved their 2-1 win for taking the game to the Vietnamese champions, with Vietnam being ranked 32 places above India in the FIFA rankings (37 to 69), proving for the umpteenth time that football is not played on paper.

Despite the importance of this victory, the Indian champions couldn’t afford to celebrate with the daunting prospect of taking on the reigning WK League champions, Hwacheon, just three days later.

Once again, it was East Bengal’s Ugandan forward Ikwaput who gave the home side a dream start when she beat Kim Min-young in a 1v1 situation to make it an early 1-0 lead.

However, the joy was short-lived after Lee Su-bin equalised soon after, following a free-kick from inside the box due to a goalkeeping lapse in concentration. In the second half, the Gangwon-based outfit ran away with the game, as the scoreboard read 1-4 at full time.

“We were unable to sleep after the defeat. We needed to put up a much better performance in our last game,” remarked East Bengal goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu.

The final game in the group was going to be another difficult test against 4.25 SC, with DPR Korea one of the heavyweights in women’s football.

It was the worst possible start for East Bengal when they conceded in just the second minute and it could well have been a long 90 minutes. However, the Indian side knew that Myanmar’s Ayeyawady had just defeated IR Iran’s Bam Khatoon 3-0 across the border in Yangon, which mathematically meant that East Bengal would be through as long as they lost by less than a four-goal margin.

East Bengal shored up their defence and went on to lose just 0-2, advancing to the knockout stage as one of the best third-placed teams.

It broke the glass ceiling for Indian women’s clubs in continental competitions, with East Bengal themselves having narrowly missed out on progressing to the knockout stage in the 2025/26 season when they were heartbreakingly knocked out by the goals-scored criteria.

Prior to that, the pioneer club in Indian women’s football were Gokulam Kerala, who were the first to win matches at the continental level, beating the likes of Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor and Krung Thep FC of Thailand during their three editions of participation in the AFC Women’s Club Championship from 2021 to 2023.

Perhaps fittingly, the man who led Gokulam during their glory days is now at the helm at East Bengal, Anthony Andrews. The 30-year-old who hails from the Western Indian state of Maharashtra is now showing his Midas touch in the Eastern Indian city of Kolkata.

Andrews knows how important that second half against 4.25 SC could turn out to be in the long run, when they could hardly avoid any mistake after already being 0-2 down, or else their knockout stage dream could have been up in smoke for the second consecutive season.

“We defended for our lives out there. 4.25 SC are a much superior team and matching them demanded total commitment, which our players delivered. I couldn’t be prouder of the girls,” expressed the East Bengal Head Coach.

At the continental level, a strong core group of domestic players – which included Guguloth, Panthoi, Shilky Devi Hemam, Astam Oraon and Rimpa Haldar – the recruitment of foreign players also plays a vital role in how far a club can progress and it must be said that the East Bengal management got it right with their overseas signings.

Japanese midfielder Hitomi Tanaka was brought in to add to the African quintet of Olivia Anokye, Abena Opoku, Adama Alhassan (all from Ghana), plus Resty Nanziri and Ikwaput (from Uganda).

On the other hand, Indian footballers gained valuable exposure in Africa earlier this year when they competed in the FIFA Series in Kenya, overcoming Malawi 3-2 to finish in third place.

The result is noteworthy for India when you factor in what happened just four months later when Malawi won admirers all across the world, defeating Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana and Algeria en route to reaching the 2026 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) final on their tournament debut.

And it is not just the Southeast African nation that gained international exposure, with the Indian Women’s League (IWL) being featured by Sky Sports last week.

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In September, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) inked a 15-year partnership deal for the commercial development and marketing rights with Capri Sports for the IWL and IWL 2. In addition, LXME, a financial and investment platform for women, was brought in as the title sponsor on a three-year agreement starting with the upcoming 2026/27 season.

The 10th edition of the IWL will kick off on Friday, November 13, with the league’s “Built to Shine” campaign earning the attention of not just Sky Sports but also Sam Kerr.

East Bengal are the two-time defending champions and Andrews welcomes the recent development in the domestic league.

“Moving forward, expanding the domestic women’s calendar is crucial. More competitive minutes from the grassroots to the top-tier will sharpen decision-making and elevate the entire Indian women’s football ecosystem,” he said.

A structure is already in place and has proved fruitful so far, with India sealing back-to-back AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup qualifications last month, following on from reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament in China earlier this year.

The senior team, meanwhile, reclaimed the SAFF Women’s Championship after seven years with a 3-1 victory over Bangladesh in the final held in Goa in June.

For India, though, the eyes have always been set on higher objectives, with the nation receiving another major boost when FIFA selected it among 12 countries in the world for the FIFA Women’s Development Programme in April 2026.

At club level, East Bengal is now amongst the cream of the continent, while star Blue Tigresses forward Manisha Kalyan is grinding it out in Europe for AEK Athens in Greece, which points towards noticeable and steady improvement as Indian women’s football continues to chase its promised land.

In the celebrated Bollywood movie Chak De! India, which shows the building and journey of a women’s sports team, a famous dialogue when roughly translated to English, reads as “…If every player plays the game of their lives, not even God himself can take these ninety minutes from you. So, go ahead – and from yourself, from your life and from every person that has doubted you, grab these ninety minutes from them.”

And that’s why, whenever Indian women take to the football pitch, it has never been just a game.