The 2023 Hero Indian Women’s League or the IWL concluded on Sunday, 21 May 2023 with Gokulam Kerala FC retaining their title for the third consecutive time by thrashing Kickstart FC Karnataka 5-0 in the final. Sandhiya scored a memorable brace with Sabitra Bhandari’s screamer opening the scoring, Indumathi taking the game out of sight in the first half from the spot and Roja Devi completing the routing ten minutes from time. By securing the title, Anthony Andrews also became the first ever manager to win the IWL more than once and in back-to-back years since the league came into existence in 2016.
Beaten finalists Kickstart FC also deserve praise for making it to the showpiece in their debut campaign. They came second in a tightly contested group containing ISL franchise Odisha FC with former winners Sethu Madurai and Eastern Sporting Union. Kickstart also beat the Tamil Nadu-based club in the semi-final in one of the surprises of the season after overcoming Hops FC’s challenge in the previous round with a late winner.
Gokulam Kerala also endured drama in the knockouts maintaining their dominance in the group stage. The Malabarians needed a shootout heroics from their goalkeeper Batrice to defeat Odisha FC in the quarterfinals with the score 1-1 after ninety minutes with Roja Devi cancelling Bala Devi’s early opener. The eventual champions had to make a comeback again to win 5-1 against Eastern Sporting Union to make it to the final.
A total of 16 teams from 12 states participated in this season’s IWL. Two groups of six teams were made with the top-ranked sides from each group moving into the quarterfinals. The games were played in a single round-robin format. Gokulam were the highest goal-scoring team in the league with 64 while Odisha FC ended as the best defense conceding only three.
List of awards
Best Goalkeeper: Linhtoingambi Devi (Kickstart Karnataka FC)
Linhtoingambi Devi kept six clean sheets throughout the tournament and became a vital part of the defense that conceded just thrice before the walloping in the final. Her shutouts were the joint-best in the division with Anjila Subba of Sethu FC.
Best defender award: K. Ngopawdi (Sethu FC)
Sethu FC made it to the semifinals with Kajol D’Souza’s goal-scoring exploits but also for Ngopawdi’s brilliant defensive work at the back. She played in the middle of a formidable back three that only allowed four goals in the tournament including the knockouts.
Best Emerging Player - Astam Oraon (Kickstart Karnataka FC)
Captaining the national side in the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup hosted by India last year, Astam Oraon grabbed the best-emerging player award in the IWL 2023 at the age of 18. Shifted to the center-back position in a back five for Kickstart from her preferred left-back role, Astam performed her job encouragingly. She did not shy away from stepping into the midfield either to add an extra number for her team in that position whenever required.
Golden Boot - Sabitra Bhandari (Gokulam Kerala FC)
Phenom of a goal-scorer, Sabitra Bhandari showed her absolute best in a Gokulam shirt this season netting 29 goals in just 10 games including the final. The most scored by a player in a single IWL campaign. The Nepal international rightly became the all-time top goal-scorer in IWL history with 59 goals across three seasons. Her outrageous scoring numbers came with the help of five hat-tricks this season, 10 overall, including seven in one match and three in the knockouts.
Hero of the League - Indumathi Kathiresan (Gokulam Kerala FC)
Although Sabitra got the headlines for her flurry of goals, teammate Indumathi Kathiresan received the best player award for her magnificent work in midfield. The sheer quality of the Indian national team campaigner inspired Gokulam to another IWL title in her first season for the club. Indumathi scored nine goals in 10 games, three in the knockouts, with almost all of them coming in the crucial stages of the game.
