When India’s women’s football team steps onto the pitch at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026, it will mark more than just another tournament appearance. For players like Shilky Devi, it represents closure, growth, and a sense of arrival that was missing four years ago.
Back in 2022, a teenage Shilky was part of an Indian squad whose Asian Cup journey never truly began. The tournament, hosted on home soil, was meant to be a landmark moment for the team. Instead, a COVID-19 outbreak within the camp forced India to withdraw before a ball could be kicked, an ending that felt abrupt, hollow, and unresolved.
Now 20, Shilky finds herself in Australia, preparing for an Asian Cup campaign that feels fundamentally different. This time, India are not hosts. They are qualifiers and for the first time in the nation’s history, they have booked their place on merit.
“The emotion is different,” she says. “In 2022, we were hosts. Now we have qualified for the AFC tournament. It feels different.” That distinction, she explains, captures how far both she and the team have travelled, from circumstance to credibility, from opportunity to ownership.
Long before continental tournaments and World Cup dreams, Shilky’s football story began in Manipur. At just 10 years old, she joined a local boys’ academy, learning the game in an environment where football was not a choice but a way of life. Her brother played the sport, and the pitch was part of her everyday rhythm.
“My journey started there,” she says. “Then national, then Indian team.” From grassroots football came Sports Authority of India trials, structured coaching, and eventually a place in the national pathway. It is a familiar route for many players in Indian women’s football, but for this generation, that path is finally beginning to lead to sustained international exposure.
India’s build-up to the Asian Cup has been deliberate and demanding. A training camp in Türkiye offered intense preparation, featuring multiple friendlies against unfamiliar opposition, a conscious effort to mirror the physical and tactical challenges posed by Asia’s top teams.
“The results are important because they give us confidence,” Shilky says. “We have played so many matches, and we are learning and improving.”
“Confidence is the key for us now,” she says. “We are facing the best teams. But everyone is thinking about qualifying for the World Cup; that is the main target.”
India’s technical setup has also evolved. The arrival of Costa Rican coach Amelia Valverde in January has added World Cup experience to head coach Crispin Chettri’s foundation. For Shilky, the transition has been less about overhaul and more about refinement.
“We were already a good team,” she says. “Now the new coach has World Cup experience. We are learning every second, on the pitch and off it. We have to play according to her plan.”
With time limited and stakes high, every training session now feeds into a larger ambition.
India’s Asian Cup journey will begin against Vietnam in Perth on March 4, followed by clashes with Japan and a final group match in Sydney. But the group stage is only part of the story. Qualification for the knockout rounds would open the pathway to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, a milestone that could reshape the sport at home.
“If we qualify,” Shilky says, “women’s football will change in India.” For her, the anticipation has been almost as challenging as the preparation itself. “I can’t wait for the day,” she says. “We have to give our best as a team and as individuals.”
As the tournament draws closer, Shilky’s thoughts extend beyond tactics, rankings, and qualification scenarios. She speaks instead about belonging, visibility, and support about making Australia feel like home. “Please support women’s football like you support the men’s,” she concludes. “We want the crowd in the stadium. It should feel like India in Australia.”
This time, India’s journey will not be unfinished. Whatever the results, it will finally be played, and for Shilky Devi and her teammates, that alone makes all the difference.
(Quotes sourced from the Bridge)
