Who is Manisha Kalyan, the first Indian to play in UEFA Women's Champions League?

By Sunita Iyer  |  First Published Aug 19, 2022, 1:23 PM IST

Young striker Manisha Kalyan became the first Indian footballer to play at the UEFA Women's Champions League when she made her debut for Apollon Ladies FC in the European Club competition in Engomi, Cyprus.

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In a historic moment for Indian football, young striker Manisha Kalyan became the first footballer from the country to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League when she made her debut for Apollon Ladies FC in the European Club competition in Engomi, Cyprus. 

Manisha Kalyan replaced Cyprus' Marilena Georgiou in the 60th minute at the Makareio Stadium, as Apollon Ladies FC beat Latvian top flight club SFK Riga 3-0 in their UWCL opener on Thursday. 

🎥 | 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 ✨

Manisha Kalyan becomes the first Indian footballer to play in the UEFA Champions League as she makes her debut for Apollon Ladies FC 👏🤩pic.twitter.com/7u5lvpuwcs

— 90ndstoppage 🇮🇳 (@90ndstoppage)

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The 20-year-old became the fourth Indian woman footballer to sign for an overseas club when she landed a multi-year contract with Cypriot top division winners Apollon Ladies. 

"Competitions like the Champions League are what every player would have dreamt of playing, and the thought of getting a chance to play it is thrilling. From my end, I'm prepared to give my 100 per cent to play the Champions League and help my team do well," said Manisha Kalyan after signing her contract with Apollon Ladies FC.

Manisha Kalyan had produced impressive performances for the national team and Gokulam Kerala in the Indian Women's League (IWL). She was recently awarded the AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year for the 2021-22 season. 

For Manisha Kalyan, it was her first Women's Footballer of the Year award. She won the Women's Emerging Footballer of the Year in the 2020-21 season.

"Manisha has come up with some outstanding performances for the National Team and her club. She has scored goals, and also assisted on a regular basis," women's national team coach Thomas Dennerby said. 

"Blessed with excellent speed and being a good dribbler, she has the potential to play in bigger leagues in the future. She's young, and still developing but has been our best player," Dennerby added.

Manisha Kalyan had shot to fame last year when she scored against former World Cup runners-up Brazil in their den during an international friendly. She believes that with the kind of progress the country's women's team has made in recent times, more Indian players can make such moves in the future.

"Our girls have improved a lot. I feel there are girls in the team who can do even better. Such moves will only help the national team to improve further in the future," she told the All India Football Federation earlier.

"I hope that I can inspire some of the younger girls to work harder and make their own moves in the future as well," she had added.

Manisha Kalyan feels that her recent exposure with the national team has helped her gain the experience and confidence to take such steps. The attacker has also adapted well to the new environment that offers her a different playing style.

On her move to the Cypriot capital, Manisha Kalyan had said, "The playing style is a little different here. It will take a little time to adapt, but I am really enjoying the intensity of training here. My teammates have been really friendly and approachable, so I am hopeful that we will all gel together." 

Having been a part of the national team setup since her U-17 days, Manisha Kalyan has gotten used to staying away from home for long camps. However, moving to a new country is an entirely new ball game.

"I've been quite used to staying away from home while playing for the national team. What made it easy was that we were all like a second family," Manisha Kalyan had stated earlier. 

Manisha Kalyan is the second player from Gokulam Kerala to sign for an overseas club after Dangmei Grace joined Uzbek outfit FC Nasaf. Apollon Ladies will next play FC Zurich Frauen on August 21.

Meanwhile, several football fans took to Twitter to congratulate Manisha on creating history. Here's a look at some of the reactions on the microblogging site:

Champions League debut for Manisha Kalyan (20). HISTORY. 🇮🇳🔥 pic.twitter.com/Xu3Twf8KUY

— Sevens Tigress (@sevenstigress)

Tracking the updates where Manisha Kalyan becomes the first Indian footballer to play in a Champions League game ⭐️
What a moment, and what a hero. What she's gone and done needs to be spoken about louder 👏

— Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (@GurpreetGK)

✅️ 90' FULL TIME | Apollon Ladies 3-0 Rīgas FS

Apollon Ladies defeated Rīgas FS in the Semi-finals of UEFA Women's Champions League Qualifying Round and progressed to Finals.

Indian star forward Manisha Kalyan (20) played 40+ minutes against Rīgas FS today. 🇮🇳🔥 pic.twitter.com/wiZhDYllXr

— Sevens Tigress (@sevenstigress)

A stellar achievement for Manisha Kalyan as she became the first Indian footballer to make a debut in the UEFA Women's Champions League 👏🏻 I hope this will instill inspiration in all the budding Indian footballers 🇮🇳

— Akash Mishra (@akashmishra_4)

Manisha Kalyan makes history. We need more dreamers 🙌🏻💙🇮🇳 https://t.co/LPU9FwsYZE

— Blue Pilgrims 🇮🇳 (@BluePilgrims)

Manisha Kalyan creates History 🙌
.
.
. pic.twitter.com/VbfsXYfBIt

— BetHive (@The_BetHive)

Milestone unlocked 🔓 became the first Indian footballer to play in the Women’s Champions League with her debut for 🎉 pic.twitter.com/93qXQyh2RF

— Women's SportsZone (@WSportsZone)

An astonishing feat for Manisha Kalyan and Indian football 🇮🇳 Congratulations on becoming the first Indian footballer to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League 👏🏻

— Deepak tangri (@deepaktangri22)

HISTORIC!!

Manisha Kalyan becomes the first Indian footballer to play in the UEFA Champions League as she made her debut for Apollon Ladies FC 🇮🇳 💪 pic.twitter.com/zZwGrsS1X7

— Sports In Detail (@sportsindetail)

For a 20-year-old to do this!!! becomes the first Indian footballer to play in a UEFA Champions League game!! pic.twitter.com/OEixvJsAUE

— Saikiran Kannan | 赛基兰坎南 (@saikirankannan)

Manisha Kalyan, the history maker for🇮🇳 ⚽

✅ First Indian ever to score in the AFC Women's Club Competition

✅ First Indian ever to score against Brazil

And now becomes

✅ First Indian ever to play in the UEFA Women's Champions League. pic.twitter.com/DkaxlBJi80

— Jayanta Kumar Nath (@IMJayNath)

Congratulations, 👏👏 Manisha Kalyan 🇮🇳 https://t.co/R98NulLSOx

— Harikrishnan.S (@krishhari2729)

Manisha Kalyan could become India's greatest woman footballer of all time and Indian women's football's first global superstar. She needs all the support she can get. In my 20-odd years of watching football, I have not seen a better player emerge from India (male or female) https://t.co/jNaxT7ryrh

— Avinash Desamangalam (@novinash)

Manisha Kalyan becomes first ever Indian woman to play in UEFA Women's Champions league for . That's a massive feat. What a proud moment for her and India.

— Vikram N Panchal🗯️ (@vikram_15)

This is incredible. Hats off Manisha Kalyan 🙌🏻💙 https://t.co/qTCjGTDVM3

— Rishabh Tiwari (Football Geek) (@footballkageek)

History 🤩🤩
Remember the name :-) MANISHA KALYAN 🇮🇳 https://t.co/U9S4KP8VRK

— Md Jish@n✍️ (@Jishan9832)

Manisha Kalyan in the Champions League
And Ronaldo isn't https://t.co/Cys2Tj4Y7g

— Lavanya 🎙️🎥👩🏻‍💻 (@lav_narayanan)

This is a HUGE moment for Indian football amidst the crisis we are in following the Fifa ban https://t.co/ljFVJRvO41

— Pratyush Mishra (@pratyushmishr12)

A ray of hope amidst the dark clouds.
Manisha Kalyan you are a star ⭐️
Proud moment for India. https://t.co/XEIKcVXBZH

— Akshata Shukla (@shukla_akshata)

Manisha Kalyan is a trailblazer and an inspiration! https://t.co/GNPVjjMoz3

— Waseem (@waseemzzzzzz)

(With inputs from PTI)

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tags

• Manisha Kalyan
• Indian Football
• Football
• Champions League
• AIFF

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