Crispin Chettri Confirms IWL Won't Clash With National Camps Before Asian Cup: 'Only Problem Is East Bengal...'

Last Updated:September 19, 2025, 16:40 IST

Crispin Chettri announced monthly camps for the Indian women's team from October for the AFC Women's Asian Cup 2026, avoiding IWL clashes.

Indian women's team head coach Crispin Chettri (AIFF)

Indian women’s team coach Crispin Chettri announced on Friday that preparatory camps will be held every month from October in preparation for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup. Efforts have been made to prevent these camps from clashing with the Indian Women’s League (IWL) schedule.

Both the Indian senior women’s and the U20 sides qualified for the continental events in July and August earlier this year.

“We have already discussed with our players, coaches of clubs and with the federation also. We’ll be hosting camps, and there will be a longer camp from January before the main tournament kicks off," Chettri stated during a press conference organised by the All India Football Federation.

Chettri explained that camps were not immediately started after the team’s qualification for the event, scheduled in Australia from March 1-21, 2026, because the senior women’s national championship was ongoing.

“The idea was to host a camp earlier (than October) but we also wanted to see more players in action during the current senior nationals, so that no individual is left out to represent our country.

“So that’s the reason why we haven’t hosted any camp as of now. So, from October when the senior nationals are over, we can have a few younger players in the camp. I think we want to give them that right opportunity and that’s why we have not started the camp," he said.

India faces a challenging draw in the Asian Cup, grouped with Japan, Vietnam, and Chinese Taipei in Group C.

Chettri mentioned that the team has an extensive training programme planned, including friendlies against top teams.

“From October onwards, we’ll be hosting a camp maybe for 15 days every month and before we go for the AFC we’ll have a longer camp. Maybe we’ll host a certain big team in October.

“Maybe in November we might go to Europe and in January, according to the weather conditions in Australia, we’ll travel to Australia earlier or maybe to some place where we can have similar kind of conditions for friendly matches."

The IWL 2025-26 is scheduled from October 25, 2025, to April 30, 2026. Chettri said that the management, AIFF, and clubs have worked to avoid scheduling conflicts.

“We’ve already planned that. We had meetings with the IWL clubs. We also had a meeting with the competitions committee, and we’ve ensured that they don’t clash, and accordingly part of the IWL will happen after the Asian Cup.

“Our only problem is East Bengal, who are going to play in two continental championships. So, we’re sort of juggling it. We just hope we get all the players. But all this has been planned with the stakeholders," he detailed.

What About Junior Team?

The corresponding U20 AFC Women’s Asia Cup will take place in Thailand, with India participating after a 23-year gap.

Head coach Joakim Alexandersson, in charge since December 2024, said extensive steps have been taken to ensure a successful outing.

“So, first of all we will go to Slovenia in October for some exposure games against good European opponents and when we come back the players will go back to their clubs and we will be using the FIFA windows to prepare with more games and camps.

“We will also invite some teams to India to play good games. So, that’s how it is and from January the IWL will take a break and we’ll have the last camp then," said Alexandersson.

(With inputs from PTI)

Ritayan Basu

Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin...Read More

Ritayan Basu, Senior Sub-Editor, Sports at News18.com. Has been covering domestic and and international football for nearly a decade. Has played and covered badminton. Ocassionally writes cricket content, havin...

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News sports Crispin Chettri Confirms IWL Won't Clash With National Camps Before Asian Cup: 'Only Problem Is East Bengal...'

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