Loitongbam Ashalata Devi (born 3 July 1993), known as Ashalata Devi, is an Indian professional

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender, who currently captains both the Indian national team and

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League, known as ''Hero Indian Women's League'' for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp is the women's top tier professional football league in Indian football. Founded in 2016, currently a total of 18 teams from across the c ...

side Gokulam Kerala. Devi is considered one of the finest defenders in Asia.

Early life

Devi was born in

Imphal Imphal ( Meitei pronunciation: /im.pʰal/; English pronunciation: ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Manipur. The metropolitan centre of the city contains the ruins of Kangla Palace (also known as Kangla Fort), the royal seat of the ...

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a States and territories of India, state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It ...

on 3 July 1993. She started playing football at the age of 13.

Club career

New Radiant

In 2015, Devi signed for the Dhivehi Women's Premier League franchise New Radiant W.S.C. She thus became the second Indian to play for a club outside India after Bembem Devi. She won the league with the club in that particular season.

Rising Student Club

On 2016, Devi signed for the newly formed Rising Student Club to feature in the first edition of

KRYPHSA FC

On 2017, Devi signed for the Indian Women's League side KRYPHSA F.C. for the 2017–18 Indian Women's League season.

Sethu FC

On 2018, Devi shifted her base to

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

based club

Sethu FC Sethu F.C. is an Indian women's professional football club based in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Women's League. They lifted the league trophy in 2018–19. Players Honours League * Indian Women' ...

who participates in

. In the 2018–19 Indian Women's League season, Sethu won the tournament by defeating

Manipur Police SC Manipur Police Sports Club is an Indian institutional football club based in Manipur. Their men's team plays in the Manipur State League, while their women's team plays in the Manipur Women's League. The club also played in the Indian Women's ...

1–3 in the finals thereby winning her maiden Indian Women's League trophy.

International career

In 2008 at the age of 15, Devi was called-up for India U17. Devi was called-up for the senior team and debuted in the year of 2011. She is the current captain India women's national football team. Devi played a pivotal role in India's success in qualifying for the

2021 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

(supposed to be held in 2020) which is going to be held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. Devi has several achievements with the national team. Devi was a part of India that won two

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic ...

gold medals starting from 2016 and in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and was also part of the team that won

SAFF Women's Championship The SAFF Women's Championship, also called the ''South Asian Football Federation Women's Cup'', is the main association football competition of the women's national football teams, governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All se ...

four consecutive times starting from

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2016 and finally in

. She was nominated by

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

for the women's player of the year in 2019 and was selected as AIFF women's player of the year for her performance in the 2018–19 campaign.

International goals

Honours

India *

, 2016,

Gold medal: 2016,

Sethu FC *

: 2018–19 Gokulam Kerala *

: 2021–22 Railways *

Senior Women's National Football Championship Senior Women's National Football Championship is the women's football tournament which is contested by state associations and government institutions in India. The first edition was held in 1991 and is organized by the All India Football Feder ...

: 2015–16 New Radiant WSC * FAM Women's Football Championship:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Individual * Indian Women's League Best Defender: 2021–22 * AIFF women's player of the year: 2018–19 * AFC women's player of the year 2019: Nominee

References

External links

Loitongbam Ashalata Devi
at All India Football Federation *
Loitongbam Ashalata Devi
at Eurosport {{DEFAULTSORT:Devi, Loitongbam Ashalata Indian women's footballers 1993 births Living people Footballers from Manipur People from Imphal India women's international footballers India women's youth international footballers Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Indian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in the Maldives Women's association football central defenders Sportswomen from Manipur 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Kryphsa F.C. Players Sethu FC players Gokulam Kerala FC Women players Indian Women's League players Asian Games competitors for India South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in football