Jordan, Sep 1: With a perfect record of two wins in two, Odisha FC shone on the continental stage by topping their preliminary stage group in the 2024-25 AFC Women’s Champions League at the Prince Mohammed Stadium.
The Juggernauts, marking their international debut, won 4-1 against Lion City Sailors FC (Singapore) before notching a hard-fought 2-1 win against hosts Etihad Club (Jordan) on Saturday to qualify for the Group Stage of Asia’s elite women’s club competition.
The reigning Indian Women’s League champions made the perfect start against their Singaporean counterparts with a dominating 4-1 conquest, powered by a brace from 19-year-old Lynda Kom Serto and two own goals.
The Indian youth international striker first scored with an instinctive header before converting Pyari Xaxa’s pass with a first-time finish. The recently-named AIFF Emerging Women’s Player of the Year, Neha Sillay, impressed on her Odisha FC debut, with her surging runs down the left wing and accurate crosses causing plenty of trouble for the opponents.
With Etihad Club winning 5-0 against Lion City Sailors in the next match, Odisha FC required nothing less than three points against the Jordanian champions to qualify from the group. Expectedly, it started as a close contest but the Juggernauts managed to take a 1-0 lead at half-time thanks to Jennifer Kankam Yeboah’s 27th-minute goal after she was released in space by Neha.
However, Etihad Club found the equaliser in the 57th minute via Jordan’s all-time top-scorer Maysa Jbarah, who scored with a left-footed strike into the bottom corner. But Odisha FC were not to be denied. They found their second goal in the 70th minute, with Lynda picking out Yeboah, who took advantage of an error in judgment by the Etihad goalkeeper, before slotting it into the back of an empty net.
The Juggernauts defended in numbers for the remaining 20 minutes. Indian international custodian Shreya Hooda also made a couple of remarkable saves in the dying minutes to see off the win and cap off a historic night in Indian women’s football.
In the Group Stage of the AFC Women’s Champions League, Odisha FC will travel to Vietnam to face Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies (Japan), Taichung Blue Whale Women’s Football Team (Chinese Taipei), and hosts Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC (Vietnam). The Group Stage comprises three groups of four teams and will also be contested in a centralised league format from October 6 to 12.
The top two finishers of each group and the two best third-placed sides will progress to the quarterfinals, to be played on March 22 and 23, 2025. A knockout Stage draw will be conducted prior to the quarterfinals to determine the four pairings, which will be contested in a single-leg format, with the higher-ranked team of each tie to serve as the home side.
This will be followed by a centralised Finals, which will see the Semi-finals and Final – all single-leg ties – being played out from May 21 to 24, 2025, to determine the first ever champions of the AFC Women’s Champions League.
–IANS
