In 2025, four U23 Indian women footballers Rivka Ramji, Harshika Jain, Aveka Singh, and Kajol Dsouza found themselves spread across four very different footballing cultures, East Asia, Eastern Europe, Nordic Europe, and the Middle East.
Indian women football is entering a decisive new phase one defined not only by national team milestones but by the growing presence of young Indian players across competitive leagues around the world.
Their journeys mark a strategic shift in how India’s best young talents are choosing to grow: by seeking environments abroad that challenge them tactically, physically, and professionally. This wave of international movement is neither accidental nor symbolic. It is the result of a deliberate, maturing football ecosystem in India one that increasingly acknowledges that domestic competition alone cannot prepare the country’s brightest prospects for the demands of top-tier women’s football in Asia.
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The U23 window is the bridge between youth promise and senior international maturity. India’s qualification for the AFC U20 Women’s Asian Cup its first in two decades showed the depth brewing in the youth setup. But the Indian Women’s League (IWL), despite its growth, still cannot consistently replicate the tactical depth or physical intensity that nations like Japan, Australia, Korea, and Vietnam demand at the senior level.
For players at this delicate transition point, the solution is clear: seek football ecosystems where the competitive bar is higher, the coaching more structured, and the day-to-day demands tougher. In this respect, the four U23 players abroad represent a generation unafraid to treat the world as their training ground.
Following the Path Set by India’s Early Pioneers. The journeys of today’s U23 footballers follow the doors cracked open by an earlier group of trailblazers.
Bala Devi’s move to Rangers in 2020 proved that an Indian player could earn a professional European contract. Manisha Kalyan’s historic UEFA Champions League appearance for Apollon Ladies redefined ambition for every young player back home. And players like Dangmei Grace, who succeeded in Uzbekistan, demonstrated that the discipline of living and playing abroad sharpens not just on-field skills but off-field maturity as well.
That influence is unmistakable. More and more Indian players now see overseas football not as a distant dream, but as a necessary step to reaching their full potential.
Rivka Ramji: Targeting the AFC Women’s Champions League
Midfielder Rivka Ramji, a Karnataka standout and former India U19 player, made headlines by becoming the state’s first woman footballer to sign abroad. Her move to Lion City Sailors (Singapore) is driven by one objective: the AFC Women’s Champions League.
While Singapore’s Women’s Premier League is relatively modest in competition level, the continental pathway it provides is invaluable. If Sailors qualify for the AWCL, Ramji will face clubs from Japan, Australia, and Korea exposure that cannot be replicated in India. For a technically gifted midfielder like her, those matches could accelerate her rise dramatically.
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A former Gokulam Kerala forward, Harshika Jain, became the first Indian woman to sign with a Romanian top-tier club when she joined CS Atletic Olimpia Gherla in 2025. Romania’s Liga 1 Feminin may not be among Europe’s elite leagues, but its greatest strength is structural: it is part of the UEFA system. This gives Jain immediate access to European coaching standards and puts her on the radar of scouts across Eastern and Central Europe.
Many bigger European clubs increasingly recruit from these leagues, where professionalism is rising but competition for contracts is still manageable. For Jain, Romania is a stepping stone into a much wider footballing universe and potentially a future UEFA Women’s Champions League qualifying campaign.
Aveka Singh: Sharpening Technical Foundations in Denmark
In Denmark, midfielder Aveka Singh joined the women’s squad of Naestved HG, competing in the Danish B-Liga. While not the top tier, this league offers something uniquely valuable for developmental players: structured coaching, disciplined training methodology, and access to some of Europe’s best football infrastructure. Nordic football systems are internationally respected for producing technically superior players through grassroots-to-progression pathways that emphasize ball control, tactical intelligence, and fitness. For Aveka, the environment functions as a finishing school where improvement is systematic, holistic, and built for long-term success.
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Her choice reflects a maturity that prioritizes development over glamour a strategic investment in refining the fundamentals needed to eventually compete at higher levels.
At just 19, midfielder Kajol Dsouza made an unconventional but increasingly common choice: moving to Al-Amal SC in Saudi Arabia’s Women’s First Division, the country’s second tier. Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in women’s football, and with that investment comes something rare in many women’s leagues globally financial stability.
Although the competitive level fluctuates, the contracts are strong and the infrastructure improving quickly. For a young player seeking long-term professional grounding, Saudi Arabia provides security and a central role in a rapidly developing league. Dsouza’s move signals that Indian players are becoming part of a broader migration trend toward the Middle East, where professionalization is accelerating at a breathtaking pace.
The presence of these four young women across such diverse footballing cultures offers distinct but complementary benefits for India:
- Tactical discipline from Eastern Europe
- Technical refinement from the Nordics
- Continental exposure through Singapore
- Professional security in the Gulf
When these players return to national camps, they bring back not only improved ability, but also broadened football IQ, stronger physical conditioning, and refined self-management skills—qualities crucial for competing against Asia’s best. The Indian national team’s recent wins against higher-ranked opponents have already been linked to the growing confidence and discipline acquired abroad.
The four U23 players abroad represent a shift from aspiration to action. They are not waiting for Indian football to provide the perfect competitive environment they are seeking it themselves. And in doing so, they are mapping out viable, repeatable pathways for the next generation.
Their journeys across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are more than personal milestones. They are steps toward a stronger, more competitive Indian women’s football ecosystem one that embraces global experience as the key to long-term success. With strategic support and sustained opportunities, this overseas movement could become the defining engine that drives Indian women’s football into a new era.
