Long before the Indian national women’s football team, before the awards, before the goals that made her the most decisive attacking player in the Indian Women’s League, Soumya Guguloth was a girl sneaking out of her house to play football.
“My parents only wanted me to focus on my studies,” she recalled in a conversation with Readwhere the team is preparing for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026.
“I would still go secretly to practice,” she added with a chuckle.
In the village she grew up in, girls did not play football. When she first walked onto the ground, there were only a few seniors and a group of boys. So she joined them.
“By practising with boys, we started thinking that girls are no less,” she said.
It was not a rebellion in the loud sense. It was a kid doing what she loved. Returning home late. Doing it again the next day.
The argument that changed her life did not come from her. It came from a coach.
“He told my parents that if girls play, they can reach the top quickly and bring glory to the family,” she said. “He asked them to give me one chance.”
They did.
“Ever since I started playing for India, they support me more than anyone.”
The earthquake that almost ended everything
Her first India call-up, in the Under-14 age group, back in 2015 was supposed to be a moment of arrival. Instead, it became a story of fear.
She was in Nepal with the Indian team, when the deadly earthquake which killed nearly 9,000 people struck. Amidst the chaos, she fell and suffered a serious eye injury.
“In the morning, I saw I was badly injured,” Soumya recalled. “I kept thinking, what will my parents say? Will they send me again to play?”
Back home, the reaction was not what she had feared.
“When I reached, everyone was crying. They were scared because of the injury. But they didn’t say ‘don’t go again’. They said, go and do what you like.”
That sentence changed the rest of her career.
Leaving home to become a footballer
Years later came another departure, this time to Zagreb. She did not fully understand what she was walking into.
“They said there were trials. I just knew I had to go abroad,” she said.
The realisation arrived only after she reached.
“I saw that my level was not enough in Croatia. I had to learn more. The players there were fast, tall, and very strong. Our stamina was not like that.”
The difference was physical, tactical, cultural, and immediate. But so was the response.
When she returned and scored against Nepal for India, she felt the change in her own body.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to hit the ball with that much power. But I had gained experience and stamina.”
The cost of the dream
There is a practical side to becoming an international footballer that never appears in highlight reels. Living alone. Cooking. Burning the food.
“Mom won’t come there to cook for us,” she said, laughing. “We have to do everything ourselves.”
Then she becomes serious again.
“If you want to make a career in football, you have to leave home and everything behind. You have to sacrifice a lot.”
In domestic football, Soumya’s rise has been sudden and emphatic: top scorer in the IWL, AIFF Player of the Year, and now one of the most dependable attacking players in the national team.
Her explanation is disarmingly simple.
“All this is thanks to God,” she said. “There are lots of ups and downs. I just believe.”
For all that her journey represents, she is acutely aware of what her state lacks.
“There is competition in India, but not enough in Telangana,” she rued. “We don’t have grounds or good facilities. Not enough balls. Some people practice at home.”
Her message is not only for players.
“Parents, please allow your daughters to do whatever they want,” she says. “They will prove it to you and bring laurels and come back as an inspiration.”
A new coach, a faster game
The transition to Amelia Valverde’s system over the last couple of months has been physical.
“She makes us run a lot,” said Soumya. “In team games she focuses on speed. We have to maintain speed and tackle with speed.”
At first, the sessions were difficult to understand. Now gradually, the team is getting a hang of the coach’s methods.
The upcoming AFC Asian Cup 2026 will be the biggest test of her career.
“We are no less, ” in a group that includes Japan, Vietnam and Chinese Taipei, her assessment is stripped of caution.
“We can beat Chinese Taipei and Vietnam,” she oozed confidence.
The preparation, she insists, is deliberately quiet.
“When we enter the match, we will speak with our performance.”
This Asian Cup is not just a tournament. It is a World Cup qualification pathway. Neither Soumya nor the team treat that as a distant possibility.
“All the seniors know this is our last chance,” she said. “It will be a life-changing experience. This has come after touching the World Cup.“
The phrasing matters. Not qualify for. They want to touch and holdthe trophy.
For decades, Indian women’s football survived without a system. Today it has a league, central contracts, multiple youth teams qualifying for Asia, and players going abroad.
From a girl who had to sneak out to play to someone asking parents across India to let their daughters step onto a football ground without permission, Soumya is one of the faces of that transition.
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