On Sunday, January 18, 2026, the Indian women’s senior national football team began their friendly match of the Türkiye tour. The Blue Tigresses suffered in the first match against Ukraine’s FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv by a score of 0-2, held at the Emirhan Sport Center in Manavgat. The tour is the team’s first preparation ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia. Ukrainian Women’s Top League 10-time champions FC Metalist struck two goals, one each from Lydia Zaborovets and Lesia Olkhova.
In the opening quarter, the Indian women’s team struggled to attack, even though they started strong through Rimpa Haldar and Jasoda Munda striking deliveries. However, the strong defence from Metalist through its goalkeeper, Elangbam Panthoi Chanu, fought the Indians hard by testing their range. Panthoi got crucial saves and denied headers and every attempt made by the Tigresses in the first half.
India, however, makes an attempt to goal in the second half from Shilky Devi Hemam, but it fails against the Metalist goalkeeper. Soon enough, Metalist got their first goal of the match after Zaborovets converted a penalty that was passed down by Panthoi. Tigresses striked back through attacks and through intense action on the field, which resulted well for them by restricting Metalist in the third round.
In the closing quarter, India got several chances to score through long-range shots from both Nirmala Devi Phanjoubam and Karishma Shirvoikar. Despite that, both got denied by Panthoi. In the final five minutes, Karishma attempted a strike but from a distance which ended in no advantage for them. Meanwhile, Metalist got their second goal from Olkhova, who got a close-range from a set-piece.
With a loss, Blue Tigresses have their next match set against Swiss clubs FC Zürich Frauen on January 21, followed by on January 24 against FC Schlieren. The Indian team landed in Türkiye on January 15 for the friendly matches, which serves a part of their preparation for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia scheduled in March 2026.
Earlier, the Blue Tigresses played against the Ukrainian national teams during the 2021 FIFA friendly in Türkiye. That year, the Europeans won the friendlies by 3-2. Indian women players Pyari Xaxa and Manisha Kalyan had scored for the team. Natalia Zinchenko was the coach of the Ukrainian team, who is now the head coach of FC Metalist 1925.
