Manisha Kalyan (born 27 November 2001) is an Indian professional

footballer 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 lea ...

who plays as a forward for Greek A Division club

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

and the India women's national team. She won the 2020–21 AIFF Women's Emerging Footballer of the Year and the 2022–23 AIFF Women's Player of the Year awards. She is the first Indian footballer to play in the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. ...

Early life

Manisha was born in Muggowal, located in the district of Horshiarpur,

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

. She studied in Sant Attar Singh Khalsa Senior Secondary School and graduated from Mehr Chand Mahajan DAV College for Women. She started playing football at the age of 13. Brahmjit Singh was the coach who spotted Kalyan's talent as a PE teacher at Government Middle School in her village Muggowal.

Club career

Gokulam Kerala

In 2018, Manisha signed with the newly formed

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League (abbreviated as the IWL) is the women's top tier professional football league in India, founded in 2016. Currently, a total of 8 teams from across the country participate in the league. The competition was planned ...

club Gokulam Kerala. She played a pivotal role in Gokulam's success in the 2019–20 IWL campaign. She scored 2 goals against the Kenkre FC, where her side won 1–10, she also scored a goal in their semi-finals against Sethu FC. She scored 3 goals in the tournament and was chosen as the emerging player of the tournament. In 2021, she became the first women player from India to score in a top-flight Asian competition, when she scored in the 2021 AFC Women's Club Championship match against

FC Bunyodkor Football Club Bunyodkor () is an Uzbek professional football club based in Tashkent that competes in the Uzbekistan Super League. Bunyodkor, a relatively unknown club at the time, made international headlines when it claimed to be close to sig ...

, the Women's Team of Uzbekistan on 14 November, which they won 3–1 at full-time.

Apollon Ladies

On July 3, 2022, it was officially announced that Kalyan signed a contract with

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

based

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club Apollon Ladies. She made her debut for the club on 18 August, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute in a 3–0 win against Rīgas FS at the

qualifying round Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

. On 2 October 2022, she scored her first goal for the club against

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

in a Cypriot First Division match. When Apollon Limassol won the 2022–23 Cypriot Women's League, she became the first Indian woman to win a European Championship. She was included in the 2022–23 Pancyprian Footballers Association (PASP) women's team of the season.

PAOK

On July 15, 2024, it was officially announced that Kalyan signed a contract with

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

-based Greek A Division club

. She made 23 appearances and scored 8 goals as PAOK finished 5th in the league and reached the semifinals of the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

International career

Manisha was selected for the India Under-17 National Squad to play the 2018 BRICS U-17 Football Cup which was held in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. She scored a goal against China Under-17, however, her side ended up losing 2–1. Manisha was then promoted to the India Under-19 National Team. She received public attention when she delivered a memorable performance in India's inspiring win over Thailand in the AFC U-19 Women's Championship Qualifiers. She scored a hat-trick in the same tournament against Pakistan which resulted in the victory of the India side with a big margin of 18–0. Manisha got her senior team call-up for the match against Hong Kong in January 2019 at the age of 17. Kalyan made her national team debut against

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

in January 2019, while she maiden goal against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

in the 2019 SAFF Women's Championship. She scored her third goal against

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on 2 October 2021 as India won the match with a score of 4–1. With India, Kalyan went to Brazil for the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus. On 26 November 2021, she created history after scoring a goal against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in their 6–1 defeat at the 2021 International Women's Football Tournament of Manaus. In February 2024, she appeared with India at the 2024 Turkish Women's Cup, in which they ended the campaign as runners-up.

Style of play

Manisha is an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and is known for her both creativity and her physicality. She is a versatile player who can attack and operate in the wings and even performs as a number 9. Primarily she plays as a left winger and sometimes as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Personal life

She is the younger daughter of Narinder Pal, a businessman and Rajkumari Pal, a homemaker. In an interview with

Goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

, Manisha revealed that she is a supporter of Portuguese player

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list India's goal tally first.''

Honours

India * SAFF Women's Championship:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

Gold medal:

* Turkish Women's Cup runner-up:

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Gokulam Kerala *

: 2019–20, 2021–22 Apollon *

: 2022–23, 2023–24 * Cypriot Women's Cup: 2022–23 * Cypriot Women's Super Cup: 2023 Individual * Indian Women's League Hero of the League: 2021–22 * Indian Women's League Emerging Player: 2019–20 * AIFF Women's Player of the Year: 2021–22, 2022–23 * AIFF Women's Emerging Footballer of the Year: 2020–21 *PASP Best 11 Women Awards: 2022–23 * ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' TOISA Footballer of the Year: 2021 * Turkish Women's Cup Best Midfielder: 2024

References

External links

Manisha Kalyan
at

All India Football Federation All India Football Federation (AIFF) is the governing body of football, futsal and beach soccer in India. It is a member of FIFA, and is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation and South Asian Football Federation. It is affiliated wit ...

*
Manisha Kalyan's interview with GoalArchived

Manisha Kalyan
at Flashscore * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kalyan, Manisha Living people Women from Punjab, India Footballers from Hoshiarpur Footballers from Punjab, India Sportswomen from Punjab, India Indian women's footballers Sethu FC players Gokulam Kerala FC Women players Apollon Ladies F.C. players 2001 births India women's international footballers India women's youth international footballers Women's association football forwards South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in football Indian Women's League players Indian expatriate women's footballers Indian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus Footballers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for India