The historic Indian Women’s League title win for Odisha FC has allowed them to try their luck against the best of Asia in the newly organised competition the AFC Women’s Champions League. The club went for transformative changes last season, making spectacular signings in the men’s and women’s divisions. Acquiring national team players, proven foreigners and past title winners while keeping faith in their manager Crispin Chettri helped Odisha FC Women break the monopoly of Gokulam Kerala on the league. Thus, they are the only second Indian side to compete at the Asian club level in women’s football.
IWL Champions Odisha FC will start their first continental journey in the preliminary stage of the AFC Women’s Champions League 2024-25. After the draw conducted on 18 July 2024, the Juggernauts were placed in Group B alongside Singapore’s Lion City Sailors FC and the Etihad Club of Jordan. All the games of this group will be conducted in the Middle East nation. The top-placed team will progress to the main competition in the group stage. They will be placed in Group C facing the 2023 AFC Women's Club Championship winners Urawa Red Diamonds, Taichung FC and host Hồ Chí Minh City.
Odisha FC’s IWL 2023-24 title journey
In just the second season of playing the IWL, Odisha FC won the league in style by collecting 10 wins out of 12 matches and finishing two points ahead of four consecutive-time champions Gokulam Kerala. It was a spectacular showing for the side that only lost once in the entire campaign and conceded a league-best just four goals while scoring 31 times. Pyari Xaxa was the top scorer for the side with eight goals while Myanmar’s Win Theingi Tun chipped in seven. Young prodigy Lynda Kom got six with the best midfielder Indumathi Kathiresan added five more. Season’s best goalkeeper Shreya Hooda kept a league-high nine clean sheets.
Format of the AFC Women’s Champions League
After four seasons of the pilot tournament AFC Women's Club Championship in which Gokulam Kerala participated, the first edition of the Women’s Champions League will be contested by 21 teams in an expanded format. The competition will be a year-long tournament for the first time. Eight clubs have made it to the group stage directly whereas the remaining 13 including Odisha FC begin at the preliminary stage. In the first round, the teams are divided into four groups, one group of four teams and three groups of three teams to be played in a centralised zone. The winners of all four groups will advance to fill the remaining spots in the group stage contested by 12 teams divided into three groups in the main tournament. The top two teams from each group and the best third-place teams will qualify for the knockout stages. Once again the matches will be played in a centralised zone of the selective host in the groups. The same goes for the quarterfinals, semifinals and the final.
Odisha FC AFC Women’s Champions League Preliminary group fixtures
25 August 2024
Lion City Sailors FC vs Odisha FC
31 August 2024
Odisha FC vs Etihad Club
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