Women's football team sent undersized jerseys, forced to buy local kits

Kolkata: It was boots before the 2022 under-17 World Cup. In Perth, it was about match day kits for the senior team. Milestone moments for the women’s football teams have had the All India Football Federation (AIFF) caught off-side. Twice.

The uncertainty over match kits for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup had not ended when head coach Amelia Valverde and skipper Sweety Devi were addressing the media in Perth one day before their first game in group C, against Vietnam. The okay from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to kits procured from a local supplier came after that. Cancelled earlier, the official photoshoot could happen only on Tuesday.

On Monday morning, the players received kits that “appear to have been manufactured for the under-15 or smaller athletes and do not fit at least 80% of the 26-player squad,” members of the India’s squad said in a letter to the AIFF. HT has seen the letter.