East Bengal won the inaugural SAFF Women's Club Championship. (Photo by AIFF)
East Bengal FC clinched the title of the inaugural edition of the SAFF Women’s Club Championship with a dominant 3-0 win over hosts APF FC in the final at the Dasrath Stadium on Saturday.
Ugandan star striker Fazila Ikwaput scored a brace while India international Shilky Devi Hemam netted once to complete the flawless campaign for the Moshal girls. Fazila also won the golden boot with nine goals in five games.
Anthony Andrews’ side scored 14 goals and conceded none in their five matches during the tournament.
After playing a 0-0 draw in the group stage against the same opponents, East Bengal came determined to score early in the final and got their breakthrough in the 22nd minute. A long ball from Sarita Yumnam put APF defence under pressure and Damai headed the ball towards an unmarked Fazila who made no mistake in opening the goal charts.
Shilky doubled East Bengal’s lead in the 35th minute with a brilliant header after receiving Ashalata Devi’s cross from the right flank.
East Bengal scored within the first 20 seconds of the second half when APF’s defender passed the ball to Soumya who in turn played a precise through ball to an unmarked Fazila. Fazila unleashed a shot from just outside the box and goalkeeper Anjana fumbled it badly making it 3-0 in the favour of the Indian club.
APF upped the ante in the final few minutes but the defence of East Bengal stayed alert and absorbed the pressure to see the game through without any hiccups. East Bengal thus became the first Indian women’s club to win an international tournament.
They had brushed aside Transport United FC of Bhutan 4-0 (December 8), Karachi City FC of Pakistan 2-0 (December 11) and Nasrin Sports Academy of Bangladesh 7-0 (December 14) before being held to a 0-0 draw by APF FC of Nepal in the last match of the group stage (December 17).