Going down in the annals of Odisha football history as well as adding a glorious feather in its cap, Nita Football Academy (NFA) has been able to secure a ticket to compete in the 2024-25 season of the Indian Women’s League (IWL) – well-known as the top tier women’s professional football league in India.
NFA achieved the glory by finishing as runners-up in the inaugural edition of the IWL-2, the second tier women’s football league of the country, which concluded with the final round at Mapusa-based Duler Stadium in Goa on May 28, 2024.
Both NFA and Sreebhumi Football Club (Kolkata) tied for the title by garnering 10 points each in the final round that featured six teams.
The goal difference also could not break the deadlock as both teams (NFA & Sreebhumi) were levelled at 8-8.
However, Sreebhumi FC emerged champions on the basis of head-to-head and emerged champions as well as qualified for IWL 2024-25.
Notably, NFA started their campaign with a 1-3 loss to Sreebhumi FC earlier on May 10. But, the resurgent Odisha team NFA bounced back into the titlte race by winning three of their last four matches and drawing one.
NFA capped the Final Round campaign trouncing SAG Football Academy 8-1 in their fifth and last match. Sikha Mallik spearheaded the NFA attack by scoring four goals and a total of seven in the Final Round.
Eventually, NFA qualified for the Final Round by finishing second with eight points in the Preliminary League (Group-A), which was held earlier at Amal Dutta Krirangan in Kolkata from March 24 to April 1, 2024. While the Odisha team (NFA) played four matches, won two and drew two.
It is pertinent to note that, NFA is the third team from Odisha to feature in IWL 24-25 . The other two teams are Odisha FC and Sports Odisha.
Group Stage (Group-B):
March 24, 2024 (Match 1) : NFA (Lalita Boypai 39) drew with CASA Barwani (Kuni Munda 72-P) 1-1. PoM: Priya Rui Das (NFA).
March 26, 2024 (Match 2): NFA (Priya Rui Das 4, 69, Nibedita Nayak 21) beat Pune Krida Prabhodhini (Aditi Gadekar 39, Vaishnavi Pawar 49) 3-2. PoM: Priya Rui Das.
March 28, 2024 (Match 3): NFA (Deblina Bhattacharjee 46, Babita Kumar 90+1) beat MGM Ambush 2-0. PoM: Babita Kumari.
April 1, 2024 (Match 4): NFA drew with Sreebhumi FC 0-0. PoM: Sujata Mahata (Sreebhumi FC).
FINAL ROUND:
May 20, 2024 (Match 1) : NFA (Sikha Mallik 70) lost to Sreebhumi FC (Kai Rumi 2, Rimpa Haldar 57, Mousumi Murmu 74) 1-3. PoM: Mousumi Murmu.
May 22, 2024 (Match 2): NFA (Babita Kumari 61, Roshni Tigga 67) beat Pudhuvai Unicorns (Keerthana M 8) 2-1. PoM: Babita Kumari.
May 24, 2024 (Match 3): NFA (Babita Kumari 64) drew with Tuem (Fatima Braganza 56) 1-1. PoM: Laxmi Tamnag (Tuem).
May 26, 2024 (Match 4): NFA (Sikha Mallik 57, 90, Roshni Tigga 83) beat Gharwal United (Shruti Kumari 86) 3-1. PoM: Sikha Mallik.
May 28, 2024 (Match 5): NFA (Sikha Mallik 27, 33, 80, 88, Babita Kumari 44, 87, Lalita Boypai 71, Roshni Tigga 90+1) beat SAG Football Academy (Guddi Gundiya 55) 8-1. PoM: Sikha Mallik.
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