IWL: Top 5 all-time top goal scorers in Indian Women’s League

Sabitra Bhandari is the top scorer of IWL.

The Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2025-26 season is poised to kick off on Saturday (20 December, 2025) – marking the beginning of what should be another exciting Indian Women’s Football campaign.

The IWL has produced a lot of entertainment in the past and served as a platform for some memorable footballers who have elevated the overall quality of women’s football in the country.

There have also been some really clinical forwards to have played at the IWL in the past, who have played crucial roles in their teams’ success.

This includes some talented foreign talents brought to the country to light up the excitement levels of the matches of the IWL, as well as some well-known Indian footballers who were able to make their mark in the competition. Here, we look at the top-5 all-time goalscorers in the IWL history.

5. Elshaddai Acheampong – 30 goals

Elshaddai Acheampong has only played in the Indian Women’s League for two seasons, but has made a significant impact in every one of her outings in the competition. She was introduced to the IWL in the 2021-22 season by joining Gokulam Kerala, and the Ghanaian forward was extremely dominant in her debut campaign with them.

Acheampong scored 20 goals in the 2021-22 campaign with Gokulam, helping them dominate their way to winning the title by winning all their 11 matches.

Acheampong was brought back to India in 2024 by East Bengal WFC, and she played a crucial role in helping them win their first-ever IWL title.

Acheampong scored 10 goals for East Bengal in the 2024-25 IWL campaign, which didn’t fetch her the golden boot, but her crucial goal helped the Kolkata side win the IWL in style. The Ghana forward remains one of the most clinical forwards to have played in the competition and one who needed little service to make an impact.

4. Sandhiya Ranganathan – 35 goals

Sandhiya Ranganathan’s rise in the Indian Football scene has coincided with her impressive performances in the IWL, as she’s played for a number of teams in the competition.

The 27-year-old forward initially played for Sethu WFC in the IWL, even winning the 2018-19 edition with them. She would also go onto win the 2022-23 IWL title with Gokulam Kerala and racked up 25 goals in four seasons in the competition by 2023.

Sandhiya scored six goals for the Malabarians’ Women’s team in the 2023-24 IWL campaign, where they came up short in the title race to Odisha FC.

The 27-year-old would then have a prolific 2024-25 IWL, helping East Bengal win the title by scoring four goals in the campaign. She has amassed 30 goals in the IWL so far and remains one of the most prolific Indian players to play in the competition.

3. Fazila Ikwaput – 44 goals

Fazila Ikwaput has been absolutely terrorising defenders in the Indian Women’s League ever since she was brought to Indian football by Gokulam Kerala in 2023. In her first-ever season in the IWL in the 2023-24 season, Fazila was in her ruthless best for the Malabarians.

She scored 20 goals in 12 games for the Gokulam Kerala side, contributing to the majority of their 33 goals in the campaign as they finished in second place behind Odisha WFC.

Fazila was able to do even better in the 2024-25 season for Gokulam Kerala, after getting a good idea about the quality of the league in her first campaign.

Fazila scored a whopping 24 goals in the 2024-25 IWL campaign, winning the golden boot for the second consecutive season as Gokulam Kerala came up short in the title race once again. The Zimbabwe forward has now joined up with East Bengal ahead of the 2025-26 season and aims to add more goals to her product and win her first-ever IWL title with them.

2. Bala Devi – 55 goals

The most prolific Indian goal-scorer in the history of the Indian Women’s League remains the indomitable Bala Devi! The all-time top scorer for the Indian Women’s Football Team also tormented her opponents in the IWL during her participation in the initial years of the competition.

Bala Devi was at her dominant best in the 2017-18 as well as the 2018-19 campaigns in the IWL, winning the Golden Boot in both campaigns.

In fact, she scored an amazing 26 goals in the 2018-19 IWL campaign for Manipur Police, even though that wasn’t enough for them to win the IWL title.

Bala Devi, who won the first-ever IWL championship with Eastern Sporting Union, has scored a whopping 55 goals in the competition since its inception and is still going strong at the age of 35.

1. Sabitra Bhandari – 69 goals

Currently playing for the Australian side Wellngton Phoenix, Nepal’s all-time top scorer Sabitra Bhandari had a prolific stint playing in the Indian Women’s League. She played for Sethu WFC and Gokulam Kerala in the IWL from 2018-2023, and the Nepal forward was able to create quite the goal record in the competition.

She won the Indian Women’s League Golden Boot twice in the 2019-20 and 2022-23 seasons, scoring an amazing 29 goals in the 2022-23 campaign – the most scored in a single campaign in the league’s history.

Bhandari won the IWL title three times, twice with Gokulam Kerala, before leaving Indian football in 2023. However, she left with 69 goals to her tally in the IWL and remains the highest goal-scorer in the league’s history.

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