Know your player for AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026: Panthoi Chanu

Panthoi Chanu brings experience to the squad

The Indian Women’s Football Team realizes the intimidating challenge that is in front of them at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, where they will need to play every match as if it’s the finale itself. With India making their playing in the competition, all eyes will be on whether they can show utmost resolve against adversity.

The Blue Tigresses will definitely have to keep a really sturdy defensive shape to be able to grind out results, and they’ll need their goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu to be at her sharpest as well. The 30-year-old has asserted herself as the no.1 for the Blue Tigresses in recent years, producing some really eye-catching performances at the international level to impress fans.

Chanu’s admirable performances in the domestic level, where she also became the first Indian women player to play in the Australian Football League, has helped her gain more prominence at the international stage.

With a lot of expectations being upon the 30-year-old goalkeeper, here we look at a detailed profile of her career.

Panthoi Chanu’s career so far:

Panthoi Chanu hails from the Keirak village in Manipur, and she started her football career at a relatively young age. As a 12-year-old, she initially started her football journey for the Kakching WFA team, before starting to earn the attention from more prominent teams.

Panthoi received her first major break at the Eastern Sporting Union Team, after having represented the India U16 Women’s Football team, as well as the U13 and U14 teams. Chanu actually used to play as a defender when she as a kid, before transitioning into the role of a goalkeeper after impressing her youth coaches.

After playing for seven years for Eastern Sporting Union (2012-2019), even winning the 2016-17 Indian Women’s League (IWL) title with them, she joined the Manipur Police team. She had impressed in the 2017-18 IWL campaign, winning the best goalkeeper award as well.

In 2022, Chanu had a trial stint with Spanish side Malaga, before rejoining the Eastern Sporting Union team again. Two years later, she made a huge jump to Australia to play for Metro United, becoming the first Indian women to play in Australia. In 2024, she also joined East Bengal WFC and played a key role in helping them to the 2024-25 IWL title!

At the international level, the 30-year-old goalkeeper has attained quite a lot of success in her career. Chanu has won two SAFF Women’s Championship with the Blue Tigresses, as well as earning two South Asian Games gold medals!

She has 25 appearances for the India team and will need to produce her best performances for the country at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup.

Read More: Manisha Kalyan: Player profile

What does Panthoi Chanu bring to the table?

Panthoi Chanu has definitely earned her way to all her success at the domestic and international stages, working hard to establish her reputation as a quality goalkeeper. She will, of course, play a crucial role in deciding the fate for the Blue Tigresses at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup based on how well she can perform in the competition.

Chanu brings a lot of confidence to the Indian women’s football team, and she can be a motivating figure for her teammates with her heroics in between the posts. The 30-year-old has evolved into a reliable goalkeeper, who is capable of reading the opposition attacking moves really well and positioning herself smartly to thwart their attacking chances.

Panthoi Chanu has evolved herself to boast impressive reflexes inside her penalty area, being able to anticipate trouble well and make crucial stops. She is a pretty old-school goalkeeper in terms of someone who likes to mostly stay inside her box rather than play the sweeper keeper role in going forward to make clearances when the opposition tries to launch counterattacks.

Apart from only her shot-stopping heroics, Chanu will also need to be at her sharpest in terms of moving the ball around for India. She has developed herself pretty nicely in terms of being able to distribute the ball into the key areas for the Blue Tigresses, not succumbing to pressure whenever the ball is passed to her and being able to smartly move it to her teammates even when opposition presses her.

Player profile: Panthoi Chanu

• Name: Panthoi Chanu Elangbam
• Age: 30
• Place of Birth: Keirak, Thoubal, Manipur
• Height: 1.70m (5’7’)
• Position: Goalkeeper
• Preferred Foot: Right-footed player
• Current Club: East Bengal

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