The All India Football Federation has appointed Costa Rica’s Amelia Valverde as the coach of the Senior Indian Women’s Football Team. Amelia was the assistant coach of Costa Rica’s senior and U20 women’s teams, which also included the 2014 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
- The All India Football Federation has appointed Amelia Valverde as the coach of the Senior Indian Women’s Football Team. The 39-year-old Valverde, who is a resident of Costa Rica, has joined the Indian camp in Antalya, Turkey, where the Blue Tigresses are preparing for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 to be held in March.
- As part of Valverde’s support staff, goalkeeping coach Ali Avila and strength and conditioning coach Jose Sanchez will also join the Indian Senior Women’s National Team.
- Avila, who is a former goalkeeper, has worked with Valverde in Costa Rica’s women’s national team and CF Monterrey. Sanchez was earlier part of the Costa Rica national team setup and club side Deportivo Saprissa.
- She has joined the existing coaching staff – Crispin Chhetri, Priya PV and Mario Aguiar – to strengthen the Indian Senior Women’s Football Team.
About Amelia Valverde
- A former player, who began her coaching career in the year 2011, Valverde was the longest-serving coach in the history of Costa Rica’s women’s national team, having led Las Ticas from 2015 to 2023.
- Under her guidance, Costa Rica participated in the 2015 and 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cups, which were their only two appearances in this major event. She was the second youngest head coach at the 2015 World Cup at just 28 years of age.
- Before that, she was the assistant coach of Costa Rica’s senior and U20 women’s teams, which also included the 2014 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
- Valverde led Costa Rica’s senior team to a gold medal at the 2017 Central American Games, a silver medal at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games and a bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.
- She was named CONCACAF Female Coach of the Year in 2016. After leaving the Costa Rica national team, Valverde was appointed coach of Mexican club side CF Monterrey in 2023, where she achieved immediate success, winning the Liga MX Femenil Clausura title in July and the Apertura in November, and winning a historic bicampeonato in 2024.
- That same year, Valverde was honoured with the Mexican Ballon d’Or for Best Coach in Liga MX Femenil by the Mexican Football Federation.
Senior Women’s Team
- Currently ranked 68th in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings as of August, 2024, the Blue Tigresses are five-time champions of the South Asian region - by winning the first five editions of the SAFF Women’s Championship (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2019).
- India finished runners-up in the Asian Women’s Championship in 1980, 1983 and finished third in 1981. India has participated in the Asian Games three times - 1998, 2014 and 2022.
- The Indian women’s team has also won the gold medal three times at the South Asian Games (2010, 2016, 2019). The most recent victory came with a 2-0 win over the host team in the final in Pokhara, Nepal.
- In 2018, India qualified for the second round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifier for the first time. The second round was held in Mandalay, Myanmar in April, 2019 - where the Indian team remained unbeaten in their three matches, but was eliminated on goal difference after registering wins against Indonesia (2-0) and Nepal (3-1), followed by a 3-3 draw against hosts Myanmar.
- In 2023, India again qualified for the second round of the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifier by defeating the Kyrgyz Republic twice (5-0 and 4-0) away in Bishkek. However, the team coached by Thomas Dennerby lost all three of its matches in Round 2 to Japan, Vietnam and hosts Uzbekistan.
