Gokulam Kerala rope in Indian international Soumya Guguloth

The forward made her debut for the Blue Tigresses in February.

Gokulam Kerala's women's team have a very special season coming up. While their male counterparts will defend the Durand Cup and I-League, the women's team will do the same in the Indian Women's League (IWL). They will also take part in the inaugural AFC Women's Club Championship.

With a busy season in sight, the club are signing new players to bolster their squad. That said, Khel Now can confirm that Indian international Soumya Guguloth will be the latest addition to the Malabarians' women's team.

"Soumya Guguloth has joined Gokulam Kerala. She completed the formalities recently. The team wants to leave no stone unturned in their preparation for what is a challenging season. And hence, they've been actively looking for Indian forwards," sources close to the developments informed Khel Now. "Guguloth fitted their plans well and they wrapped up the signing quickly. She will represent the club in the AFC Women's Club Championship first and the IWL later."

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About the player

Born on July 18, 2001, Guguloth hails from the Nizamabad district in Telangana. Growing up, she enjoyed the sport, but did not receive much encouragement from home.

However, she braved the odds and worked her way up to the Indian U-14 women's team that featured in the AFC (South and Central) tournament in Nepal in 2015. While an earthquake in the country prevented her from donning the national team's colours then, the forward returned to the international circuit soon.

In the AFC U-16 Championship Qualifiers held in China in 2016, Soumya Guguloth scored a hat-trick against Malaysia and was the top scorer for the Blue Tigresses with four goals. Later, she also became the captain of the India U-17 team that took part in the BRICS tournament in South Africa.

The 20-year-old finally got called up to the Indian senior women's team camp last year. She also made her debut for the side during the recent tour to Turkey, in the first game against Serbia.

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Before joining Gokulam Kerala, Guguloth featured for Kenkre FC in IWL 2019-20. The Mumbai-based outfit reached the semi-finals of the competition. The forward did well for herself too, scoring seven times during the campaign.

Gokulam Kerala's pre-season preparations

In a major setback, GKFC's former goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan left to join Iceland-based Hamar Hveragerdi in April. The Indian international had played an important role in their IWL success in the 2019-20 season.

So far, Gokulam Kerala have managed to retain their other key players including Manisha Kalyan, Michel Castanha, Karishma Shirvoikar and Sabitra Bhandari. As reported by Khel Now earlier, they also signed another Indian international in Ritu Rani. Led by head coach Priya PV, the Kozhikode-based outfit are gearing up to make a solid first impression in the AFC Women’s Club Championship, which will be held in November.

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