Women’s football is still seen as ‘not marketable’, says Former Captain Aditi Chauhan

"There is a particular kind of frustration that doesn"t come from lack of progress, but from progress that feels misdirected. For Former Indian National Team Captain and Goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, that frustration sits at the heart of women"s football in India today, a space where visibility has improved, conversations have widened, but investment, she highlights, is still largely stuck in a cycle of optics, not outcomes. “The shift? I think it"s still largely visibility-led and campaign-driven,” she says, speaking from her work building grassroots pathways through her foundation, She Kicks. “There has been an increase in investment in women"s sports, yes.

But it"s mostly going to athletes who are already successful, the ones who"ve already achieved something.” In other words, the spotlight is on the finish line, not the starting point. The visibility paradox Women"s sport in India is no longer invisible. Campaigns are being made, faces are being recognised, and major wins are being celebrated more widely than before.

But Chauhan points to a deeper structural gap: visibility is not the same as ecosystem-building. For initiatives like She Kicks, which focus on developing local talent and building long-term pathways, the challenge is persistent, convincing brands to invest before the story is already “marketable.” “We try to make brands see the long-term vision,” she explains. “Developing local talent, giving them a platform, helping them pursue their dreams.

But right now, the mindset is still very short-term.” That short-termism, she suggests, is limiting the sport"s true potential. Not just a player story, building a multisport nation One of the strongest ideas Chauhan returns to is how women"s sport impacts far beyond the individual athlete. “When a woman plays sport, she influences the entire family,” she says. “It"s not just one individual. The husband supports, and the kids start playing. That"s how you build a multisport nation.” It is a shift in framing that moves women"s football from being a niche sporting category to a social multiplier that changes participation patterns across households and generations.

But that possibility, she believes, is still under-leveraged. The missing stars and a missed opportunity Unlike cricket, women"s football in India operates outside the country"s dominant sports narrative. And that brings its own challenge: a lack of visible, widely recognised individual icons. “We worship individual players in India,” Chauhan says. “But football is a team sport. We haven"t been able to build those individual names that people follow closely.” The result is a visibility gap, not for lack of achievement, but for lack of sustained storytelling.

She points to recent milestones that, in her view, haven"t received the attention they deserve, including the progress of India"s women"s teams across age groups. “All three teams — senior, U-20, U-17 — qualified for the Asia Cup for the first time in history. The U-17 team reached the quarterfinals. How many people even know this?” she asks. The myth of "not marketable" One of the most persistent misconceptions Chauhan encounters is the idea that women athletes, or women"s football itself is “not marketable.” “It"s always that,” she says. “Either the sport is not marketable, or the athletes are not marketable.” But she believes this perception comes from a narrow definition of storytelling in sport that over-indexes on dramatic “rags-to-riches” arcs while ignoring the lived reality of what it takes to stay in sport at all. “The story is always overemphasised in one way,” she says. “But sport is so much more than that, the failures, the family resistance, the constant questioning, the lack of support.” Those experiences, she shares, are not side notes to an athlete"s journey.

They are the journey. And they are precisely what gets overlooked. Why wait for the trophy If there is one message Chauhan repeats, it is directed squarely at brands entering women"s sport in India. “Stop looking for the rags-to-riches stories,” she says. “Stop only marketing athletes who have already achieved something.” Instead, she urges a shift from individual-led sponsorship to ecosystem-led investment, supporting the sport itself, especially at the grassroots level. “If brands start investing in championing the sport rather than just individuals, that would bring a major shift,” she says. “Then you will find stars. Then you can choose who to support.” The alternative, she warns, is a system where recognition only arrives after validation, when the groundwork has already been done without it.

And by then, she suggests, it is already too late to shape the sport"s future. For Chauhan, the gap in Indian women"s football is not talent. It is infrastructure, attention, and patience, all of which require a different kind of investment logic. “Right now, it needs to start at the base level,” she says. “Long-term approach. Not quick money, quick returns.” It is a reminder that in sport, as in culture, visibility often follows investment, not the other way around.

And until that order changes, women"s football in India may continue to win quietly, while waiting to be seen loudly."