The Indian Women’s Football national team went through a disappointing run in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, as the team couldn’t rack up a single point under the mentorship of Amelia Valverde.
The 39-year-old couldn’t produce the desired results as head coach due to which the AIFF technical committee named Crispin Chettri as the head coach of the women’s team.
Amelia Valverde was named as head coach just before Asia’s most reputable football tournament, while AIFF had removed Chhetri from the post of assistant coach. Amelia earlier won the Central American Games as a coach in 2017 and was declared the female coach of the year in 2016 by CONCACAF. The 39-year-old Costa Rican also won the Liga MX Femenil Clausura with Mexican team CF Monterrey in 2024.
Although the women’s team showcased tremendous grit and determination while facing Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in the recently concluded Asian Championships, the team returned home without claiming any points. The women’s team will play in two of the most crucial tournaments in the coming days, and Chhetri faces a tough task ahead of him.
In this post, we review Chhetri’s performance as the coach of the women’s team, whether he will be able to live up to his expectations as coach and how his appointment can help the side in the 2026 FIFA Women’s series in Kenya and the SAFF Women’s Championships.
How did the team perform under Chhetri’s mentorship?
Crispin Chhetri was appointed coach of the Indian women’s team in 2025 after Odisha FC won the Indian Women’s League under his guidance. The Pink Ladies Cup was his first major tournament as head coach, in which the team beat Jordan in the first game but lost to Russia and South Korea.
Before the AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers, the team played two friendly matches against Uzbekistan in Bengaluru, but lost both. Chhetri’s most impressive performance as coach of the women’s team came during the Continental Cup when the team registered wins against Mongolia, Iraq, Timor Leste and the host team Thailand. This performance showcased his capabilities as a smart administrator and also highlighted the team’s calibre to perform at this level.
The team played two friendly matches after a big break against Nepal and Iran, but the Blue Tigresses lost both games, which came as a big surprise. Immediately after this, Amelia Valverde was named as the head coach. India went down to Japan, which was a disappointing start to her new assignment. After this, the team went down to Vietnam and Chinese Taipei in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup without registering any points in the entire tournament.
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The 51 year old is undoubtedly amongst the best coaches that AIFF could have asked for in place of Amelia Valverde, as Chhetri understands Indian Football from the grassroots level, being an Indian, as he has vast experience of working at the domestic level and knows Indian national team players better than other candidates. He has played for clubs like Mohun Bagan, United Sports Club and Tollygunge Agragami and knows how Indian players perform at the domestic level.
He also played for Assam in the Santosh Trophy. He later played for Maharashtra, Sikkim and West Bengal. He was included in the youth team that toured Mauritius in 2000. He was the assistant manager of Mohammedan Sporting in 2020-21.
He was the head coach of Odisha FC women’s team during the 2022-23 season in the Indian Women’s League. Odisha FC won the Odisha Women’s League during the 2022-23 season under his guidance. Chhetri was the head coach of Sethu FC during the 2021-22 Indian Women’s League. There are questions if the AIFF should have waited to appoint Chhetri and given some time to Amelia to know Indian Football closely and review every player’s strengths and weaknesses, and accordingly implement her plans.
There are even opinions that Amelia should have been given some time to understand Indian Football at the junior level as well as at the senior domestic level, which would have given her a brief idea of the nature of Indian domestic Football as well as the national Football team that would have allowed her to understand every player’s game and hone their skills accordingly.
All these aspects will be known in the future about how the women’s national team performs in the next two tournaments. Currently, AIFF doesn’t have any other option other than Chhetri, but we can conclude his appointment after seeing how the Indian women’s team performs under him in the future.
