Kolkata: India’s East Bengal FC will begin their AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 preliminary stage campaign on Monday, targeting successive group-stage qualification in the continental competition.
The East Bengal women’s football team’s matches in AWCL 2026-27 will be available to watch on live streaming in India.
The Moshal Girls qualified for the continental competition by winning the 2025-26 Indian Women’s League and the upcoming AWCL campaign will mark their second outing in an AFC competition.
Last season, East Bengal made it beyond the AFC Women’s Champions League preliminary stage, becoming the first Indian football club to win a group stage match in the competition before bowing out.
East Bengal have been drawn in Group A alongside Malaysia’s Sabah FA, Guam outfit Rovers FC and Bangladeshi club Rajshahi Stars FC.
The Kolkata club will play all their AFC Women’s Champions League preliminary stage matches in a single round-robin centralised league format at the Likas Stadium in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
This season’s preliminary stage features 24 teams divided into six groups of four each, with each group winner advancing to the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 group stage.
The group winners will join six teams that have secured direct entry to the group stage.
Already in the main draw are defending champions Naegohyang Women’s FC (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) as well as the top-ranked continental clubs Melbourne City FC (Australia), Hwacheon KSPO WFC (Republic of Korea), INAC Kobe Leonessa (Japan), Beijing Jingtan FC (People’s Republic of China) and Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC (Vietnam).
Should East Bengal qualify for the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 group stage, they will enter a separate draw in September, with matches set to begin in November.
The 12 teams in the main draw will be divided into three groups of four for the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 season.
Where to watch AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 live in India
Live streaming of East Bengal’s AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 preliminary stage matches will be available on FanCode. There will be no live telecast of the AWCL football matches on any TV channel in India.
AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27: East Bengal’s preliminary stage schedule
All in Indian Standard Time (IST)
August 17, Monday: East Bengal FC vs Rajshahi Stars FC – 1:30 PM
August 20, Thursday: Rovers FC vs East Bengal FC – 1:30 PM
August 23, Sunday: East Bengal FC vs Sabah FA – 5:30 PM.
Andrews has already made it clear that East Bengal have done their homework on their opponents. Speaking ahead of the opener, the head coach highlighted Rajshahi Stars as one of the teams capable of challenging for the top spot.
“The Bangladeshi team is one of the contenders who can chase for the top spot, having recently finished their league with all wins and just one draw,” he said.
Rajshahi are prepared for the assessment. The Bangladesh champions have reinforced their squad with 11 players from the squad that won the Women’s Football League in their debut season, with 18 national team players in their squad.
Others to watch out for are Bangladesh national team captain Maria Manda, Monika Chakma, Shamsunnahar Jr, Tohura Khatun, Mst Sultana and Surovi Afrin. Rajshahi have also roped in Nepal international defender BK Bimala to boost their captain Sheuli Azam-led squad.
East Bengal are coming into the competition with a squad that has seen quite a few changes.The reigning Indian champions have retained key players Fazila Ikwaput and Resty Nanziri, but both are facing visa problems and are likely to miss the preliminary stage fixtures.
Defender Abena Opoku is also unavailable for the opener as she is with the Ghana national team and is expected to join the squad straight away in Malaysia.
However, Rajshahi will be without one of their biggest attacking threats. The Bangladesh side failed to bring back star player Ritu Porna Chakma after facing troubles in obtaining her International Transfer Certificate from the Myanmar Women’s Football League.
East Bengal have made up for it by recruiting three Ghanaian players: defender Adama Alhassan, midfielder Olivia Anokye and striker Abigail Antwi. All three have been drafted into the squad and could be vital to the campaign.Soumya Guguloth is also recovering from a knee injury.
To say East Bengal could be hard hit by Fazila Ikwaput’s absence is understating the obvious. The Uganda international was prolific in the 2025-26 Indian Women’s League scoring 18 goals in 13 matches as defending champions East Bengal made the title race a procession, finishing the season 14 points ahead of second-placed Sethu FC. It earned them a berth in Asia for the second successive season.
It was a goal and an assist from Ikwaput, 25, that took East Bengal past Phnom Penh Crown and Kitchee FC at this stage last year and to the main round where they were a couple of stoppage-time minutes away from being among Asia’s top eight clubs.
Along with left-side attacker Resty Nanziri, Ikwaput will be missing this round because of travel restrictions following the outbreak of the Ebola virus.
“It is a big setback. Fazila is a poacher,” Andrews told before leaving for Malaysia. “They understand how we want to play as a team. They are part of the team’s core.”
Playing India forwards Rimpa Haldar and Priyanka Naorem as false nine can be a way of getting around Ikwaput’s absence, said Andrews. “We need to be smart.” He didn’t rule out getting new signing Olivia Anokye involved in the front third either.
Anokye is an attacking midfielder and one of the four Ghanaians who complete East Bengal’s foreign contingent along with defender Adama Alhassan, forward Abigail Antwi and central defender Abena Opoku.
With a bunch of local players who have made the first team this season, East Bengal trained in Kalyani, nearly 55km away from Kolkata, for one month and played training games with local under-18 boys teams. In that time, Andrews also liaised with Ghana’s staff in Casablanca so that Opoku doesn’t miss the first game against Bangladesh’s Rajshahi Stars.
Ghana finished their engagements in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with a come-from-behind win against Ivory Coast on Thursday that kept them in contention for a berth in the 2027 World Cup.
But it also meant “she missed our pre-season,” said Andrews, 30. Then the other three were in Kalyani but none completed even half the pre-season, said the head coach.
Add missing India players Karthika Angamuthu and Sandhiya Ranganathan because they had employers’ commitments and Sweety Devi, also an international, to a long-term knee injury and it is not difficult to understand why Andrews, in his third season at East Bengal, said preparations in 2025 was better.
“We were clear about the players we wanted and the logistics was better. This time, we knew whom we wanted but some of the things, like grounds not being available due to rain and players barred from travelling, were taken out of our hands.”
And yet, against teams from Guam (Rovers FC), Malaysia (Sabah FA) and Bangladesh, East Bengal, their core of India players retained, start favourites in Group A from where only the winners will qualify to the finals.
“In terms of FIFA rankings those countries are well behind us,” said Andrews. “But Bangladesh have made significant strides in women’s football and many of their national team players are with Rajshahi. And they are likely to have six foreigners. The first game is a big challenge.
“I love it when people talk about us being favourites but I don’t know if we are. I believe that over the years, we have built a team with the right attitude. What I can say is that no team will have it easy against us. The time to test ourselves has come.”
Probable Line-ups
Rajshahi Stars FC (4-4-2): Rupna Chakma (GK); Sheuli Azim (C), Afeida Khandaker, Bimal BK, Shamsunnahar Sr.; Monika Chakma, Maria Manda, Sapna Rani, Unnoti Khatun; Shamsunnahar Jr., Tohura Khatun.
East Bengal (4-2-3-1): Panthoi Chanu (C) (GK); Sarita Yumnam, Adama Alhassan, Ashalata Devi, Astam Oraon; Shilky Devi, Olivia Anokye; Rimpa Haldar, Naorem Priyangka Devi, Sulanjana Raul; Abigail Antwi.
