The Meghalaya Football Association (MFA) will launch a statewide senior women’s club tournament this year, it was informed yesterday.
This new league will be akin to the Meghalaya State League (MSL), the MFA’s statewide tournament for men; the best teams from women’s leagues run by affiliated district associations will compete for the Meghalaya state women’s league title.
This was informed by Dipshon Lyngdoh Nongbri during a press conference called for by the Shillong Sports Association (SSA). Lyngdoh Nongbri is the SSA general secretary and joint secretary of the MFA.
For this year the SSA will be represented by the champions of its Women’s Football League 2024, Laitkor, and runners-up PFR Academy.
Lyngdoh Nongbri said it was a matter of pride for the SSA that many players in its Women’s Football League have gone on to represent clubs across the country, such as those in the Garhwal United team that won the Indian Women’s League (IWL) 2 title a few days ago.
Having a statewide tournament should open the way for Meghalaya clubs to play in the IWL 2. Although the state hosted the final round of the IWL in 2017-18 (there was only one tier back then), no club from Meghalaya has played in the league.
The closest one came to doing so was in the inaugural 2016-17 season when the erstwhile Royal Wahingdoh were invited to take part in the qualifiers; however, they were unable to progress to the main competition after losing all four of their matches.
