Crispin Chettri, the coach of the Indian women’s football team feels that the lack of exposure is the biggest hurdle for budding footballers of north Bengal.

Chettri, who has just taken charge of the national team, said he plans to create a pool of players and develop a ‘steady supply’ line of players to excel at the next level.

“If you go to remote rural areas or tea gardens of north Bengal, you can see the craze for football. But these talents are not getting proper exposure, because unless you perform in any national level tournament, the scouts will not notice. Only one league in Calcutta is not enough to spot the talents,” Chettri, told The Telegraph from Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh on Friday.

The Kurseong resident, who has played for the United Kurseong Football Club, has made hill residents proud with his new assignment.

Last year, he guided the Odisha FC women’s team to qualify for the first edition of the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Champions League. The Odisha women’s team also became the champion of the Indian Women’s League for 2023-24 under Chettri’s coaching.

Currently, he is conducting a preparatory camp for the upcoming Pink Ladies Cup with 29 players at the Anantapur Sports Village.

The tournament is an international women’s friendly football tournament and the matches will be played in Dubai from February 20 to February 26.

Along with India, teams from the Republic of Korea, Russia, Thailand, Uzbekistan, and Jordan will participate in the tourney.

On February 17, the final squad for the tournament will be announced and the next day, the team will leave for UAE, he said.

“We are currently focusing on the ensuing tournament. But once I return, I will talk to officials of our football federation and request our spotters to visit the school and varsity level football events to spot new talents,” said Chhetri.

The current FIFA ranking of the Indian women’s football team is 69 in the world while in Asia, their rank is 12.