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IWL turns 10 with evening kick-off and YouTube deal
First edition of women’s top tier football league with commercial partner begins on Friday.
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A few weeks ago, a gala dinner was organised with players who would be involved in the upcoming season of the Indian Women’s League (IWL) as key invitees.
That would not be the only time the players were invited for an off-field activity. Social media is now abuzz with a new campaign involving those players. It included makeup sessions, photoshoots, performing a few tricks with the football to be captured on video that would be compiled for an ad campaign to “meet the unstoppables.”
The promotion is not for a new tournament. They are for a competition that on November 13, will begin its 10th season. The festivities were to promote India’s premier women’s football competition in its new avatar.
For years, there has been criticism over the haphazard way and inconsistencies in organising the IWL season. Now there is hope for something better.
“We met the sponsors and behind-the-scenes organisers who are supporting us,” Gokulam Kerala defender Baby Lalchhandami told HT. “Having long-term corporate backing gives us peace of mind knowing the league schedule and structure are now stable.”
This comes as a result of the All India Football Federation (AIFF), in September, entering a 15-year deal with Capri Sports to handle the “commercial development and marketing rights of the IWL and Indian Women’s League 2 (IWL 2),” according to a statement.
A few years ago, one IWL season took place with day-time matches in the midst of a heatwave in Ahmedabad. Last year, the season was split into two halves with a three-month gap in between – the second half was played in the heat of April and May. That was done to give India time to prepare for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup where the senior women’s had qualified for the first time.
This season, the two-month competition is continuous and matches will take place only in the evening. “That’s better for the players because we can now perform better and show the quality of football that we have,” Lalchhandami said, adding that her team’s last match in 2025-26 took place at 3pm in May. “That match was horrible and nobody could run. We are labelled as professional footballers, and we want to maintain that professionalism all-around. But when you aren’t playing in better temperatures, like in the last season, it becomes hard.”
The new season also comes with a broadcast deal, with all matches being streamed on YouTube.
These are simple additions that have been introduced to a league that the AIFF has been accused of overlooking in the past. However, there is still a lot that needs to be done to bring the tournament up to a level that could truly benefit the ecosystem of women’s football in the country.
“Teams get to play only 14 matches in the season, and that’s it,” said two-time defending champions East Bengal’s head coach Anthony Andrews. “That is not enough for any team or player to develop. Playing more matches will be better for development.”
For context, consider this: East Bengal played South Korean champions Hwacheon KSPO in Asian Women’s Champions League last week. In South Korea, a team plays around 34-35 matches in a season, said their skipper Lee Subin.
The upcoming season will end in January, leaving players to their own devices to stay in touch with the sport after that. Lalchhandami said that she finds refuge in playing in leagues in Mizoram to fill in the gaps. The problem though, still persists.
“Senior players often feel unemployed during the off-season months,” she said.
Because they also play the local league, East Bengal are among the few teams that get competitive matches outside of the IWL season. On Saturday, East Bengal became the first from the country to qualify for the quarter-final of the Champions League.
“The club ensures that all players have at least a year-long contract so that they can receive at least 11 months of salary,” Andrews said. “Since we don’t get enough games anyway, we organise matches against U-15 and U-17 boys to help their decision making.”
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Record three-time champions Gokulam Kerala has also regularly competed in the regional league to give their players more game time. The team’s coach Raman Vijayan suggested the introduction of other competitions in the calendar, similar to the Federation Cup and Durand Cup that the men play, to increase the number of matches.
Vijayan, who played for the national team from 1996 to 2001, asserted that more also needs to be done at the grassroots level.
“Earlier when we won the league (Gokulam are record three-time champions, winning the title in 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23), only two teams had all the best players,” he said. “The other teams have now also picked up and established their base, but there needs to be more development in the youth level to produce a bigger talent pool. That’s happening in the men’s game but not much for women.”
The 10th season will take place across three cities – Kolkata, Jamshedpur and Bengaluru. Eventually, Andrews and Vijayan hoped, the league will be played in a home-and-away format, with more matches for each team.
