The Eastea Kerala Women’s League (KWL) 2024-25 season is all set to commence tomorrow, January 23, 2025, marking a significant event in Kerala’s football calendar. The league, organized by the Kerala Football Association (KFA) and their marketing partner Scoreline, is in its sixth season. Gokulam Kerala are the defending champions and they are the title favorites in this season as well.
This season, the league is sponsored by Eastea. Two clubs from Thrissur, Alagappa FC and City Club, will be making their debut appearances.
The 2024-25 season will feature six competitive teams:
- Alagappa FC (Thrissur)
- Gokulam Kerala Women (Kozhikode)
- Kerala United Women (Manjeri)
- City Club (Chalakudy)
- Lords FA (Kochi)
All the matches will be held at Govt. VHSS Boys Ground, Kunnamkulam.
The league will follow a double round-robin format, where each team faces every other team twice. This structure means that the league will be 30 matches long and will conclude on the 1st of March. The previous season featured seven teams and KFA is trying to bring more clubs into the league in the coming season. There are plans to encourage Super League Kerala clubs to field their teams in KWL.
History of the League and Previous Champions
The Kerala Women’s League was inaugurated in the 2014-15 season, with Wayanad Women’s FC clinching the first title. Marthoma College won the second season. After a long hiatus, the league resumed in the 2021-22 season. Since its revival, the league has seen the domination of Gokulam Kerala FC. The Malabarians won twice in the past three seasons and finished runner-up once. Their consistent performance has set a high benchmark for other teams in the league.
Lord’s FA is another team to watch out for. In their title-winning season, their squad had international players like Win Theingi Tun and Indumathi Kathiresan.
However, behind the glitz and glamour, there are concerns that KFA needs to address. Despite organizing three seasons consecutively, there is no significant increase in the talent pool in the state. Grassroot football is minimal and there is a consistent decrease in the number of participating teams over the reasons due to various reasons. Kerala Blasters pulled out after a season and numerous other teams folded their KWL operations. The difference in quality between Gokulam and other teams was massive in the past seasons which resulted in scores like 10-0. In the 2022-23 season, Lord’s Fa scored 33 goals in a single game again Kadathanad Raja FA and Win Theingi scored 51 goals that season. Figures like this are a reflection of the lack of competitiveness of the league. Teams from the South had previously raised their concern to the Kerala Football Association for not conducting matches in Thiruvananthapuram.
