Pictures BS News Agency.
Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: East Bengal FC Women are set to embark on their second consecutive AFC Women's Champions League Group Stage campaign on November 1, Sunday. In a landmark moment for Indian women's football, India will host AWCL Group Stage matches for the first time with Kolkata's Kishore Bharati Krirangan providing the stage for Asia's premier women's club competition.
Drawn in Group B, East Bengal Women will host Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City Women (November 1), Korea Republic's Hwacheon KSPO WFC (November 4) and DPR Korea's 4.25 SC (November 7). All of East Bengal Women's games will kick off at 8 PM IST.
East Bengal Women secured their place in the AWCL Group Stage for the second season running, after finishing at the top of Group A in the Preliminary Stage in Malaysia in August. The 'Moshal Girls' won all three of their Preliminary Stage matches - against Bangladesh's Rajshahi Stars (4-0), Guam's Rovers FC (12-0) and hosts Sabah FA (2-0) to finish the group with a perfect record and seal their progression. Anthony Andrews' team did not concede in their last 8 international matches and scored 34 goals, including 18 in their AWCL Preliminary Stage matches. EBFC Women's 8-match unbeaten run in international football also includes the inaugural SAFF Women's Club Championship triumph in Kathmandu late last year.
Having narrowly missed out on a knockout berth last season, East Bengal Women will be determined to make the most of their AWCL games on home soil and become the first Indian club to progress to the quarter-finals in the tournament's history.
The tournament format offers an opportunity for 8 of the 12 Group Stage teams to adavance to the knockouts. The three group winners, three runners-up and two best third-placed teams will qualify for the quarter-finals.
Ho Chi Minh City WFC, the Vietnamese women's league champions, will be East Bengal Women's first opponent on matchday 1 of Group B on November 1. The fixture will be particularly important as the home side look to begin their campaign on a positive note and establish early momentum in a compact Group Stage schedule.
The challenge will intensify on November 4, Wednesday when East Bengal Women take on Hwacheon KSPO WFC, the champions of the 2025 WK League - the top-flight women's league in South Korea. The Red & Gold Women will conclude their Group B campaign against 4.25 SC, champions of DPR Korea Women's Premier League, on November 7.
East Bengal Women had an incredible 2025-26 season, becoming the first Indian club to win a treble in women's football - the SAFF Women's Club Championship, the Indian Women's League and the Calcutta Women's Football League. The 'Moshal Girls' played 35 games last season, winning 30 times while losing just thrice. They will be keen to replicate that consistency in the AWCL Group Stage.
Besides extending the contracts of most of the core players from the previous season, EBFC Women's Head Coach Anthony Andrews also roped in several new faces toh bolster the squad balance - including Indian National Team regulars Rimpa Haldar and Thoibisana Chanu, and overseas players such as Hitomi Tanaka (Japan), Olivia Anokye (Ghana), Adama Alhassan (Ghana) and Abigail Antwi (Ghana). Olivia was EBFC Women's top scorer in the AWCL Preliminary Sage with 5 goals.
*Addressing the media at the pre-tournament press conference, Anthony Andrews said*, "It's a huge opportunity for us to play the AFC Women's Champions League on home soil. We'll face some of the best teams in Asia, but we have prepared well and intensely for this moment, so the girls are ready to prove their mettle at this stage. We need to level up if we have to compete with these Asian powerhouses to book a berth in the knockouts. We've been playing friendlies against U-15 and U-17 boys regularly to push our limits and adapt to the pace and intensity of top-tier continental games. I request all the fans of Indian women's football to come to the Kishore Bharati Krirangan and cheer our girls to victory."
*EBFC Women's player Sathi Debnath said*, "I won my first trophy (CWFL 2022-23) with East Bengal at the Kishore Bharati, so it's a very special stadium for me. We've been preparing rigorously over the past two months for this competition, and we've played multiple friendlies against boys during this time. These games have helped us become physically and mentally stronger. We are determined to rectify last year's mistakes and advance to the AWCL knockouts."