East Bengal 12-0 Rovers FC: Key takeaways from AFC Women's Champions League Qualifier

The Red & Gold scored 12 goals against Rovers FC

East Bengal maintained their impressive form in the group stages of the 2026-27 AFC Women’s Champions League preliminary stages qualifiers with a dominant 12-0 thrashing of Rovers WFC in their second clash. It was an utterly ruthless display from Anthony Andrews’ side, who took a commendable 3-0 lead in the first half – only to crank up the pressure in the second half even more by scoring nine goals against the helpless Guam side.

The likes of Priyangka Devi, Olivia Anonkye, and Abena Opoku all scored multiple goals in the game, with it being an extremely compelling display from the Torchbearers. This result also marked East Bengal’s biggest-ever win in an AFC match in their history, with Andrews’ players taking a step forward into securing their dream of qualifying for the group stages of the AFC Women’s Champions League for the second straight campaign.

Even though it was a really one-sided match which was controlled by the East Bengal players, the match had some interesting revelations about the Indian heavyweights. Here are the talking points of the Rovers FC vs East Bengal clash.

3. Priyangka Devi proving herself as potent weapon for East Bengal in Asia

Priyangka Devi was an absolute nightmarefor the Rovers FC defenders in the AFC Women’s Champions League qualification clash, as she actually started the rout by scoring the opening goal of the match very early on.

Devi scored a brace in the first half itself, producing some stellar finishes to leave the opposition goalkeeper with no chance to save it at all. But even apart from her goal-scoring acumen, Devi was like an absolute live wire in the attacking third for East Bengal—beaming with confidence in demanding the ball to be played to her and taking on defenders to light up her side’s attacking threat.

She was slick with her movement, being able to dart past defenders into the danger zones and playing clever passes into the final third to help unlock the hapless Rovers FC backline. Devi, who has already been playing for East Bengal since 2024 and now has decent experience of playing in the AFC competitions under her belt, will look to keep up her bright form in the decisive final game of the group stages.

2. Clinical East Bengal foreigners pick up form at right time of Women’s Champions League Qualifiers

East Bengal were able to make some crucial additions to their squad for the 2026-27 season in terms of signing quality foreign players to add some extra quality, which was mjostly to help their cause in the AFC competition. Fortunately for them, these new signings have turned out to be really prolific as the likes of Adama Alhassan, Olivia Anonkye and Abigail Antwi were all really impressive in the thrashing of Rovers WFC.

After having scored a brace in the first match of the group stages qualifiers, Anonkye was also able to replicate similar heroics in scoring a quick-fire brace in the first 15 minutes of the second half with some crisp finishing.

Abigail also proved herself to be a thorn for the defenders after coming on in the second half, scoring a quality goal before Abena Opoku also got in on the fun by scoring two goals in the space of six minutes in the second-half rout.

Fortunately for Anthony Andrews, all his foreign players are high on confidence and have a lot of momentum in their stride heading into the crucial final match of the group stages against Sabah. He’ll hope that these players can keep on making a difference by being a thorn for defenders and prolific in the final third to inspire East Bengal to the AFC Women’s Champions League group stages.

1. Consistency is key for East Bengal to reach AFC Women’s Champions League

East Bengal have been utterly dominant in their first two matches of the preliminary group stages of the 2026-27 AFC Women’s Champions League qualifiers, scoring 16 goals in two matches and conceding none. The Torchbearers have been pretty perfect with their results so far, being ruthless inattack and pretty solid defensively to sail their way to victories.

However, East Bengal must maintain this kind of consistency when they face their biggest threat of the qualifiers in the form of hosts Sabah WFC. That is because the Malaysian side had also gotten a 13-0 thrashing of Rovers WFC, a feat that East Bengal also ultimately failed to replicate or better.

That is why the Red & Gold Brigade need to reserve their best performance of the qualifiers for the clash against the Malaysian heavyweights. Andrews needs his side to be absolutely perfect in the next game, maintaining the goal-scoring consistency shown in the last two games and also being even more resilient defensively.

If the Torchbearers can continue converting opportunities’ as well as they have in the last two games, then they should be able to unlock the Sabah side’s resilience and get a win – which would be enough to guide them into the group stages of the 2026-27 AFC Women’s Champions League.

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