Indian women’s team coach Crispin Chettri on Friday said preparatory camps will be held every month from October ahead of next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup, and steps have been taken to avoid them clashing with the Indian Women’s League (IWL) schedule.
Indian senior women and the Under-20 sides have qualified for the continental showpieces in July and August early this year.
“We have already discussed with our players, coaches of clubs and with the federation also. We’ll be hosting camps, and there will be a longer camp from January before the main tournament kicks off,” said Chettri in a press conference organised by the All India Football Federation here.
Chettri said the camps were not started in the immediate aftermath of the team’s qualification for the marquee event, which will be held in Australia between March 1-21, 2026, because the senior women’s national championship is underway.
FILE PHOTO: India has a challenging draw in the Asian Cup, being clubbed alongside Japan, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in Group C.
| Photo Credit:
AIFF MEDIA
FILE PHOTO: India has a challenging draw in the Asian Cup, being clubbed alongside Japan, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in Group C.
| Photo Credit:
AIFF MEDIA
“The idea was to host a camp earlier (than October) but we also wanted to see more players in action during the current senior nationals, so that no individual is left out to represent our country.
“So that’s the reason why we haven’t hosted any camp as of now. So, from October when the senior nationals are over, we can have a few younger players in the camp. I think we want to give them that right opportunity and that’s why we have not started the camp,” he said.
India has a challenging draw in the Asian Cup, being clubbed alongside Japan, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in Group C.
Chettri said the team has charted an extensive training programme ahead of the tournament, including friendlies against some top sides.
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“From October onwards, we’ll be hosting a camp maybe for 15 days every month and before we go for the AFC we’ll have a longer camp. Maybe we’ll host a certain big team in October.
“Maybe in November we might go to Europe and in January, according to the weather conditions in Australia, we’ll travel to Australia earlier or maybe to some place where we can have similar kind of conditions for friendly matches.” The IWL 2025-26 is scheduled to be played between October 25, 2025 and April 30, 2026 and Chettri said the management, the AIFF and the clubs have already discussed ways to avoid a schedule clash.
“We’ve already planned that. We had meetings with the IWL clubs. We also had a meeting with the competitions committee, and we’ve ensured that they don’t clash, and accordingly part of the IWL will happen after the Asian Cup.
“Our only problem is East Bengal, who are going to play in two continental championships. So, we’re sort of juggling it. We just hope we get all the players. But all this has been planned with the stakeholders,” he detailed.
U-20 women to go to Slovenia for exposure
The corresponding Under-20 AFC Women’s Asia Cup will be held in Thailand, and India will be participating in the event after a gap of 23 years.
Head coach Joakim Alexandersson, who has been in charge of the side since December, 2024, said extensive steps have been taken to ensure a good outing for his wards.
“So, first of all we will go to Slovenia in October for some exposure games against good European opponents and when we come back the players will go back to their clubs and we will be using the FIFA windows to prepare with more games and camps.
“We will also invite some teams to India to play good games. So, that’s how it is and from January the IWL will take a break and we’ll have the last camp then,” said Alexandersson.
Published on Sep 19, 2025
