Who is Manisha Kalyan? 20-yr-old makes historic debut in UEFA Champions League; Watch

India women's football team player Manisha Kalyan made history on Thursday by playing for Apollon Ladies FC in Europe's elite club competition. Having signed for Cyprus champions recently, Kalyan came on as a substitute during Women's UEFA Champions League match between Apollon Ladies FC and SFK Riga in the qualiying group stage match.

Manisha Kalyan makes debut in UEFA Women's Champions League

Kalyan started on the bench for Apollon Ladies FC but came onto the field during 60th minute of the match wearing 12 number jersey. She was elected by her team to take four corner kicks in the half-hour she played.  Apollon went onto beat Latvian club Rigas FS 3-0 in round 1 of the Women's UEFA Champions League. In the next round, the Cyprus club face the winners of Switzerland’s FC Zurich and Faroe Island’s Klaksvik Kvinnur.

Manisha Kalyan was congratulated by national goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who became the only Indian to play a continental match for an European club.

Sandhu had played for Norwegian club Stabaek in the Europa League qualification match against Connah’s Quay Nomads. Europa League is, however, the second-tier competition in European football. Praising Manisha Kalyan, Sandhu in his tweet wrote, that what Kalyan and gone and done needs to be spoken about louder.

Manisha Kalyan career

Manisha Kalyan first made it to the national camp only in 2019 after an incredible 2019-20 season of the Indian Women's League. The winger who laid for Gokulam Kerala FC WAS adjudged the emerging player of the tournament and led her team to their first Indian women league (IWL) title. Manisha Kalyan became the second Women's player from Gokulam Kerala FC who is set to move overseas after forward Dangmei Grace, who signed for Uzbekistan's FC Nasaf.

She captained the India U-17 team in the BRICS Cup in South Africa and was named 2020-21's AIFF Emerging player of the year. She previously represented teams like  BBK DAV Football Club, Paldi Football Academy, Kenkre FC, Sethu Madurai and Doaba Sporting Club. The footballer from Punjab had made history by becoming the first Indian to score a goal against Brazil in international football. Despite the goal for Kalyan, Brazil eventually ended up crushing the Indian Women's team 6-1. Manish lit up the IWL 2022 edition scoring14 goals and providing seven assists. Manisha has already opened her account for  Apollon Ladies FC having  scored a goal for the club in their 4-0 victory over Omonia FC in a friendly match.