Indian Women’s League: Women-heavy coaching team for Sethu FC | Football News

CHENNAI: Indian Women’s League (IWL) club Sethu FC have appointed women in positions of power for the upcoming season. While Rutuja Gunwant has been roped in as the head coach, Kulsum Bi Shaikh and Surbhi Manjrekar have been anointed the head of women’s football and assistant coach respectively.The 2025-26 IWL is expected to begin in the first week of November and end in April, with the top-tier league taking a big break for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup – where the India senior team will compete – in Australia in March.Rutuja will fill the seat vacated by Arun Kumar, who had replaced Shareef Khan midway through the previous season. Rutuja had represented Sethu as a player in the club’s formative years and most recently served as a coach for the Gokulam Kerala FC women’s team. As for Kulsum, she was associated with Odisha FC in the last IWL season.“We felt that it would be better to hand over the coaching duties to a known face. We wanted to have people who are familiar with the system (Indian women’s football). I personally felt that women coaches would be able to handle our players in a better way. That is why we have gone with a women-heavy coaching and staff contingent this time,” Seeni Mohaideen, founder and owner of the Tamil Nadu-based club, told TOI on Thursday.Having finished a disappointing fifth in the previous IWL campaign, Sethu, champions of the 2018-19 season, are determined to once again battle for top honours. In the close season, they have shown ambition, securing the services of forward Lynda Kom and midfielder Grace Lalrampari by paying transfer fee to the now-relegated Odisha.Sethu have retained approximately 14 domestic players and are likely to sign two foreign outfield members – from Africa – and an overseas goalkeeper. “We have players who are part of the India team. We also have young talent in the squad, so it should be a good mix. Our ultimate goal is to get to the AFC Women’s Champions League (the IWL winners will have an opportunity to qualify for the tournament),” Seeni added.Seeni also stressed that the IWL clubs are finding it increasingly difficult to plan for the season ahead, due to lack of clarity regarding the schedule. “The fixtures are yet to be finalised by the AIFF, so we do not know when we will play our home matches. We need to book the stadium soon,” said Seeni while confirming that Chennai’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will remain the club’s home venue.Sethu FC staff: Rutuja Gunwant (head coach), Kulsum Bi Shaikh (head of women’s football), Surbhi Manjrekar (assistant coach), Aadil Ansari (goalkeeping coach), John Mark Danny (strength and conditioning coach), Akshayaa (physiotherapist), Parthiban (head of operations).