BHUBANESWAR: Defending champions
Gokulam Kerala
will begin their
Indian Women's League
(
IWL
) campaign against debutants
Odisha Police
, a team which is keen to make its presence felt, here on Saturday.
Gokulam became the first-ever Indian women's club to play in an AFC club tournament -- the
AFC Women's Club Championship
in 2021 and the star-studded squad is aiming for a solid start to its campaign this season.
Head coach
Anthony Andrews sounded confident about the team's preparations.
"The preparation for the Hero Indian Women's League has been good. We know how important the league is to us, and we are lucky to have had a few sessions with the players before they were leaving for national duties," Andrews said.
Speaking about their opponents Odisha Police, he added: "Odisha Police are a good team. They have won their state league, and know what it takes to win every single match. They have retained their players, and the team has been together for a long time."
For Odisha Police, who won the state league, it will be a novel experience, and an interesting challenge to play against the best of the country.
"Our girls are working in different districts, and that didn't allow us much time to prepare. But the big platform that IWL is, we are ready to give it our all.
"For the first time ever, players in the IWL players are getting more matches to perform. We will be taking it step by step and work on different aspects of our game. No doubt Gokulam are one of the best teams in this tournament. But we will work as a team and try to win our first match," Odisha Police head coach Shradhanjali Samantaray said.
In other matches of the day, Ahmedabad-based ARA FC will start their IWL campaign against Odisha Sports, while former champions
Sethu Madurai
FC will take on debutants Mata Rukmani FC from Chhattisgarh.
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