Shillong, November 11: Jakrem SC and Na Rympei Football Academy will seek to become the champions of the Meghalaya Women’s State League 2025 in the final on Wednesday, with the winner to make history as the best women’s football team in the state in the inaugural edition of the tournament.
The final will take place at the SSA Stadium at First Ground, Polo, here, with kick-off at the earlier time of 4pm.
The pioneering initiative of the Meghalaya Football Association began on 20 September and since then 33 matches have been played at five different venues.
The MFA has long desired to hold a women’s league but needed the affiliated district associations to come on board and host their own local leagues. Enough of them had now done so for the MFA to launch the MWSL under the guidance of its President, Hamletson Dohling, and General Secretary Sunesh Syiem, with winners and runners-up of the district leagues eligible to take part in the state league. Thirteen teams from eight associations signed up and were divided among three groups.
Having a statewide league will also allow for a team from Meghalaya to finally participate in the Indian Women’s League – once they meet certain requirements state champions can play in the second division (IWL 2) – which would be another step in the growth of women’s football in Meghalaya.
The general public have been captivated by the part that three Meghalaya women footballers – Bonifilia Shullai, Alisha Lyngdoh and Ribansi Jamu – have played in the national U-17 and U-20 women’s teams qualifying for major Asian Football Confederation tournaments and there is energy and enthusiasm to see more young female footballers from the state succeed.
Coming back to the final, both Jakrem and Na Rympei had to overcome adversity to get to the title match, with neither team starting the MWSL 2025 in the best way possible. Jakrem lost their opening fixture in Group B to Mawlum Tyrsad SC, while Na Rympei were beaten in their first two Group A games by Laitkor SC and Pay For Right FA 6-2 and 2-1 respectively.
Both teams went on to win all of their matches after that low point. Jakrem finished second in Group B and then defeated Diengshynrum SC 4-1 in the quarterfinals and strong favourites Laitkor SC 2-1 in the semifinals, the latter from a goal behind.
Na Rympei, meanwhile, qualified for the knockouts as the third-best side in Group A but then soundly defeated Bright Future SSCC in the quarterfinal round 8-1 before setting up a re-match against PFR in the semis. This time they dominated their opponents to win 4-1.
That the two finalists are not based in the Shillong area – Jakrem falls under the Mawkyrwat District Sports Association and Na Rympei under the Ri-Bhoi District Sports Association – demonstrates that there is much scope for football’s growth in all corners of Meghalaya and football enthusiasts are excited to see which side emerges with the champions’ trophy in their hands at the end of Wednesday’s final.
