India women’s team is set to host two Fifa international friendly matches against Maldives on 30th December and 2nd January at Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru as announced by the All India Football Federation. 

India is ranked 69th while Maldives is at 163, as per the latest FIFA rankings released on 13th December.

The Blue Tigresses last played a match at the SAFF Women’s Championships in October where they lost to Nepal in the semifinals.

Newly-appointed Swedish coach Joakim Alexandersson has taken over the national women’s team since 10th December. The 48-year-old coach has come as part of an agreement between the All India Football Federation and the Swedish Football Association. 

Four of the Indian women's coaches, along with two goalkeeper coaches will be closely working with Mr. Alexandersson. 

In a bid to improve the standard of Indian women footballers' standard, the AIFF is also planning to increase the quota of foreign players in the elite Indian Women's League (IWL).

The key reason behind appointing a Swedish coach is that AIFF is looking forward to Indian women’s impressive performance in the two important competitions in 2026, the Asian Games and the AFC Women's Asian Cup.