Ensure young girls don’t have to endure what seniors did: Valanka Alemao

Panaji: The All India Football Federation’s handling of the national team for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup has been questioned by its executive committee member and chairperson of the women’s football committee, Valanka Alemao.

The 12-team AFC Asian Cup offered six spots at next year’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, but India finished without a win in the group stage, losing all three games.

While Amelia Valverde’s side opened the campaign with a 2-1 loss against Vietnam, the 11-0 drubbing against former world champions Japan left them bruised. Still, a win in the concluding group-stage clash against Chinese Taipei would have taken the team to the knockout stage of the competition. Instead, they lost 3-1 after Manisha Kalyan had helped draw level with a spectacular freekick.

Valanka, who is also member of the FIFA women’s football committee, said she had restrained herself earlier since she did not want to distract the team. “But after the team played and didn’t qualify for the next stage, questions must be asked and answers sought from those responsible for the series of blunders concerning the team as it has caused huge embarrassment to the country,” she wrote in an email to AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey.

The questions were obvious: why was the executive committee and AIFF women’s football committee never consulted nor informed about certain decisions? Who decided to appoint Valverde as the head coach along with her two assistants in Jan 2026 by sidelining Crispin Chhetri just six weeks before the tournament? What was the procedure that was followed for her appointment?

“The technical committee cleared the appointments without calling for any list of prospective candidates to be prepared or advertised as it happened while choosing the coach for the women’s team without any knowledge of the executive committee. Where was the need to bring in someone so close to the tournament, and what was the cost of payments to all the three,” asked Valanka, adding that the appointments, without advertisements, can be “construed as violations of the AIFF constitution.”

As per Article 71.3 of AIFF’s constitution “all processes for recruitment of individuals as well as engagement of contractors and/or service providers is to be done through a transparent and open tendering process, with notices of the same duly being posted on the AIFF website”.

India’s preparations for the all-important continental showpiece also left a lot to be desired. India played just three international friendlies; one against Iran and two against Nepal. The rest were all against club sides with one game being stopped midway since the opposition was too weak.

The kit fiasco where ill-fitting jerseys were sent to the national team, 48 hours before the opening game against Vietnam, also left a bitter taste in the mouth.

“Two days before the first match, the players had to ensure bizarre shocks. Questions must be raised and those who are responsible for such blunders which has brought shame to the nation must be taken to task. Most importantly, our under-17 and under-20 (teams) have also qualified for their respective Asian tournaments. We must ensure that the young girls will not have to endure all that the senior team members had to,” said Valanka.