The Indian women’s national team arrives in Australia for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup not as participants but as a side that qualified on merit, and stands one knockout result away from a historic first appearance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“When a country begins investing in women’s football and giving women the opportunity to play, results start appearing,” Indian women’s football team head coach Amelia Valverde tells Read from Perth. “That is never a coincidence.”
For decades, the World Cup in Indian football has belonged to a sentence that begins with someday. Now, for the first time, it belongs to a tournament in front of us.
The team carrying that possibility is not the one with the longest professional structure or the largest budget, but the one that rebuilt itself after disappearing from the FIFA rankings in 2009, after years of inactivity, after generations that played without a system around them.
A month of adaptation
Valverde’s appointment in January was always going to be a race against time, a World Cup coach stepping into a new continent, a new football culture, and a squad that had already built its identity under Crispin Chettri.
Her first month, she says, has been about mutual adjustment.
“It has been a month of a lot of work, dedication and adaptation, the group adapting to me and me adapting to the group,” she says. “In a national team, having time together is always very valuable.”
India were the first team to arrive in Perth. They played a couple of friendlies.
“Now we are focusing on refining the small details for what is coming next. We are very happy to be here and continuing our preparation.”
The language is consistent with high-performance environments: integration, daily work, controlled intensity.
The Manisha Kalyan factor
Valverde’s first tournament squad, 26 players, a blend of youth and experience, reflects what she calls “a very brave group.”
“It is a combination of young players and players with more experience, which is always important in tournaments like this,” she says. “What I see now is a team with a lot of hunger and a real desire to keep improving.”
The most discussed name outside the camp has been Manisha Kalyan, still with her club in Peru at the time of the squad announcement.
Valverde’s response is measured and revealing.
“Our focus is on the group we have, which I believe is a very good group. I want to make that very clear,’ she says.
Kalyan, the first Indian woman to play in the UEFA Women’s Champions League is a symbol of the national team’s new international pathway.
Valverde is careful to centre the present squad before speaking about her.
“Regarding Manisha, she is still with her club and we are waiting for news about when she can join. We hope it will be as soon as possible because we know how important she is to us,” she adds.
The confidence of a historic qualification
Grace Dangmei, Shilky Devi and others have spoken openly about the World Cup.
Valverde does not frame it as a slogan. For her, confidence is a daily practice.
“Confidence is built every single day,” she says. “It is worked on in training sessions. We try to create the same intensity they will feel in matches so they know what to expect.”
She refuses to promise results. But she returns repeatedly to responsibility.
“We have already qualified to be here. That was historic. Now our job is to represent the country in the best possible way.”
One of the recurring critiques of India during the qualifiers was the drop in tempo in second halves. Valverde prefers not to revisit the past.
“I am not here to judge what happened before,” she says. “We have worked a lot on maintaining physical intensity and trying to keep the same rhythm throughout the match.”
“It is normal in football that at certain moments the tempo drops slightly, but our focus is for the team to maintain the same dynamic and intensity for the full game,” she adds.
Three generations, one trajectory
For Valverde, the most significant indicator of India’s future is not a single tournament but the continuity across age groups.
“These three generations, U-17, U-20 and senior, are marking a before and after,” she says. “I believe this is only the beginning of something that could become very important.
“Hopefully, conditions will continue improving, for more girls to play, for more international opportunities, for better training resource,” she adds.
Everywhere she goes in India, the question is the same: Can this team reach the World Cup?
Her answer does not change. “I don’t know.”
Then she adds the part that matters to her.
“But what I can guarantee is that this team is working in a very responsible and professional way to represent India as best as possible.”
Her message to the fans is direct.
“We need them. We need all the positive energy, whether in Australia or in India,” she says.
Across Asia, teams like Vietnam and the Philippines have shown what happens when preparation meets the right qualification cycle.
India have reached that intersection now.
If the breakthrough comes, it will not be a miracle. And as Valverde says, that is never a coincidence either.
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