Aditi Chauhan, one of India's most celebrated women footballers, hung up her boots in July this year. Announcing the decision, Aditi drew an interesting analogy, stating, "football is a game of two halves. I gave everything in the first half, but I’ve still got plenty left in the tank. I’m not done yet."
Aditi earned 57 India caps between 2011 and 2023 and won the SAFF Women's Championship three times - in 2012, 2016, and 2019. Her other accolades include two gold medals at the 2016 and 2019 South Asian Games. In addition, she holds the distinction of being the first Indian woman footballer to play in England, having signed a deal with West Ham United FC Women in 2015 before returning to India in 2018.
Despite a rich CV, Aditi chose to end her playing career at just 32, arguably a little early, something which she also admits. "It is an early age to retire, and it was a very difficult decision to take. When a game becomes your identity, to step away from it takes a lot of courage, a lot of planning, and a lot of self-convincing. It took me almost 2-3 months to actually make that announcement and take that decision," she told Moneycontrol in an exclusive chat.
Her enthusiasm to give back to the sport, particularly women's football in India, motivated her to take the call. "As a player, you always want to continue playing and play as long as you want. But now I feel I have a bigger role to play, in terms of how I make a difference, how I fully dedicate my time and energy, provide a platform, and bridge that gap for women's football in India. So, 'She Kicks' is one way to do it," she added.
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She Kicks Football League (SKFL) is Aditi's brainchild that she started in 2018. The league was relaunched earlier this month and spread across four cities - Bengaluru, Kolkata, Delhi, and Mumbai.
"Beyond the competition itself, SKFL embodies the larger vision of the She Kicks ecosystem, which includes a football academy, a foundation, and initiatives aimed at empowering women through sport and producing champions. In line with this commitment, 15 percent of the league’s net profits will be directed to the Aditi Chauhan Foundation, ensuring that every match played contributes back to grassroots development and social impact," the official release stated.
Aditi started playing football at 16, a time when there was no girl's team in her school. During the conversation, the former footballer recalled how she had to “figure out a lot on her own” to pursue football as a career, before quickly adding "not really a career because I would say even today it's very difficult to make football your full-time profession because you're not paid enough to sustain on the salary that you get from the contracts or IWL (Indian Women's League) that we have in India."
Aditi has completed a Master’s degree in Sports Management from Loughborough University and her first exposure to playing football outside India was when she represented the university team. She believes “studying there, playing there, and getting the experience of what a professional environment looks like” puts her in a unique position.
"With that view, I started She Kick back in 2018 to bridge that gap because I knew there was so much talent. I could make it at West Ham, so obviously, there was more talent in India that could do it too if there was a pathway available to the players. That was my view, and nobody else has had this experience or perspective other than me. So, rather than going out there and convincing people and trying to get them to do something with women's football, I thought why not start something on my own, even if it's in a small capacity, at an individual level, I'll still be happy to at least say that I've tried to contribute in the development of women's football. That was the idea when I started in 2018," she said.
Aditi also highlighted a major concern in women's football, comparing it to the time when she had started playing. "While I was playing, there were times when we didn't play even a single competitive match for a year or two. That's not great when you're trying to build a career or improve. I felt there was a huge gap in India, especially for girls. You can train all year round, a lot of academies are working with girls and training them, but how useful is it if that is not being implemented in the matches and in the competition?
"So, with the experience that I had in the UK, I saw the difference that playing matches throughout the year does for a player. With that in mind, we started with the league, with the idea of growing, making it bigger, and giving this platform to more and more girls across India, not just in a couple of cities, but expand to other cities.
"Make this a platform for the girls to showcase their talent, where even the clubs can come and scout players. I have noticed a huge demand for players among the clubs; they look for good quality players, but they don't know where they are," she said.
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While her vision speaks volumes, Aditi also drew attention to the biggest hurdle: finding sponsors. "The reality is that we still struggle getting sponsors, convincing brands about the impact that women's football and competitions like this can create. I think there needs to be a change from the brand's perspective, in terms of giving value to the impact rather than just numbers. They always ask us about the numbers, the reach."
If we talk about the broader picture of football in India, it is noteworthy to highlight that the women’s team is doing significantly better than the men. Despite the massive gap in pay parity, broadcast, league structure, and almost everything, the Indian women's football team has qualified for the AFC Women's Asian Cup, which will be held next year in Australia. This also keeps India's hopes alive in the FIFA World Cup qualification race, an ambitious target but not an impossible one.
Men's, on the other hand, are long out of the World Cup qualification race after a disastrous 2024, as they failed to clinch a single win throughout the year. And next month, they take on Singapore for a home and away fixture, the outcome of which will determine their participation in the AFC Asian Cup.
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