MARGAO
Indian women's national team forward Bala Devi has been named as the AIFF Women’s Footballer of the Year 2020-21, with young gun Manisha winning the AIFF Women’s Emerging Footballer of the Year 2020-21 Award.
On receiving the honour, the 31-year-old Bala stated: “I’m so happy to have won this award. A big thank you to the AIFF and all the fans for their support. I’d also like to thank my coaches -- both at my club in Rangers, and in the national team, and also and all the coaches that I’ve played under in the past. A big thank you also to my family and all my teammates for all the support.”
This marks the third time that the mercurial forward has won this prestigious award, having previously won it two years in a row in 2014 and 2015. Currently playing for Rangers Women's FC in Scotland, Bala made her debut for the team in February last year and created history as she scored her first competitive goal for the team in December. She remains the first Indian woman footballer to sign a professional contract in Europe.
Nineteen-year-old Manisha, who is also a forward, was named the Women's Emerging Footballer of the Year for the first time. A former India U-17 and U-19 international, Manisha made her senior national team debut against Hong Kong in 2019 and since then, she has gone on from strength to strength. She also received the Emerging Player of the Tournament Award at the 2019-20 Indian Women's League, where she played a key role in Gokulam Kerala FC's run to the title.
Both the winners were chosen by the national team head coach Maymol Rocky in consultation with AIFF interim technical director Savio Medeira.
Maymol Rocky steps down as coach
NEW DELHI: After four years in charge of the Indian women's senior national team, head coach Maymol Rocky has stepped down from her role due to personal reasons.
Maymol, who took over the reins as head coach in 2017 after a stint as the assistant coach, led the team to a number of international successes and saw them progress tremendously in recent years.
The Indian women's national team created history in November 2018 by making it through to the second round of the Olympic qualifiers for the first time ever. They won the title at the SAFF Women's Championship in 2019 and the gold medal at the South Asian Games in Nepal.
