Gokulam Kerala name 23-member squad for AFC Women's Club Championship

The full squad is set to leave for Jordan on Tuesday.

Reigning Indian Women's League (IWL) champions Gokulam Kerala are gearing up for participation in the AFC Women's Club Championship for the 2021-22 season. The tournament will kick-off in Jordan early next week.

The Malabarians named their 23-member squad for the AFC Women's Club Championship on Monday. They also announced that the full squad will depart to Jordan the following day. The squad comprises of 10 Indian Internationals among others and will be led by coach Priya PV, who is also the assistant coach of the Indian national team.

Gokulam Kerala's squad for AFC Women's Club Championship is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Aditi Chauhan, Shreya Hooda, Heera Geetha Raj.Defenders: Ritu Rani, Ranjana Chanu, Sonali Arun, Susan Ama Duah (Ghana), Michel Castanha, Femina Raj Valappil, Manju Baby.Midfielders: Dalima Chhibber, Soumya Guguloth, Adriana Tuti Tirado (Puerto Rico), Manisha Kalyan, Kashmina, Anushka Samuel, Samiksha.Forwards: Win Theingi Tun (Myanmar), Dangmei Grace, Jyoti Chouhan, Elshaddai Acheampong (Ghana), Karishma Shirvoikar, Karen Paez (Colombia).

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Squad details

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) allows five foreigners in all teams' squads for the AFC Women's Club Championship. One of them has to be from an AFC-member nation.

Winger Win Theingi Tun fulfills that category for GKFC. The other foreigners in their squad are defender Susan Duah, midfielder Adriana Tirado and forwards Acheampong and Karen Paez.

The likes of Aditi Chauhan, Ritu Rani, Dalima Chhibber, Soumya Guguloth and Dangmei Grace were with the Indian national team till last week, as they kick-started their preparations for the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2022. The Malabarians' chief tactician Priya PV was also with them as India coach Thomas Dennerby's deputy.

What they said

"It's important that women's football be given a prominent presence in India's club football culture. The Indian Women's League has helped in that regard. Now, we're ready to take it a step further through the AFC Women's Club Championship. This is the first time that an Indian club has received an invite to such a competition, and we hope to make this count," coach Priya told Khel Now on Tuesday.

She further added, "We are not ready to undermine our opponents. Amman Club also have the home advantage. A lot of us were with the national team till last week, so we haven't been able to prepare as well as we'd have wanted. Regardless, we'll make the most of our efforts."

Meanwhile, Gokulam Kerala President VC Praveen opined that the bigger challenge would be for their foreign players.

He said, "Many of our domestic players and the coach were together at the national camp till last week. Hence, I think the bigger challenge would be for our foreigners to adapt to the team's style. We ourselves had an issue in signing our overseas stars, as many of our options were unavailable due to the COVID-19 pandemic and national duties with their respective countries.

"We continue to face light troubles in this case - for instance, our final foreigner (Susan) will arrive only today. However, I believe we've made some good signings. We hence hope to go all the way," he further added.

A key player missing from the squad is Manisha Panna, and Praveen also shed light on her situation. "Manisha has to be with her department team (Railways) for the upcoming Senior National Women's Championship. They were not able to relieve her for us, and hence we won't be able to avail her services," he revealed.

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Gokulam Kerala's fixtures at AFC Women's Club Championship

• Sunday, November 7: Gokulam Kerala 1-2 Amman Club (Jordan) at 10:30 pm IST (Match Report)
• Wednesday, November 10: Gokulam Kerala vs Shahrdari Sirjan (Iran) at 7:30 pm IST
• Saturday, November 13: Gokulam Kerala vs FC Bunyodkor (Uzbekistan) at 7:30 pm IST

All the matches will take place at the Aqaba Development Corporate Stadium in Amman, Jordan. All the games will be live-streamed by the Jordan Football Association's official YouTube channel.

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