Ashalata Devi Loitongbam

Ashalata Devi Loitongbam is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a defender for the Indian Women's League club East Bengal and the India women's national team. Devi is considered one of the finest defenders from Asia and is the first women's footballer to play 100 matches for the Indian national team.

Early life

Devi was born in Imphal, Manipur. She started playing football at the age of 13.

In 2015, Devi signed for the Dhivehi Women's Premier League franchise New Radiant W.S.C. She thus became the second Indian to play for a club outside India after Bembem Devi. She won the league with the club in that particular season.

In 2016, Devi signed for the newly formed Rising Student Club to feature in the first edition of the Indian Women's League.

In 2017, Devi joined the Indian Women's League club KRYPHSA F.C. for the 2017–18 Indian [Women's League season|2017–18 Indian Women's League] season.

In 2018, Devi transferred to Tamil Nadu based club Sethu FC which participates in the Indian Women's League. In the 2018–19 Indian Women's League season, Sethu won the tournament by defeating Manipur Police SC 1–3 in the finals, where Devi won her maiden Indian Women's League trophy.

In 2008 at the age of 15, Devi was called-up for India U17. Devi was called-up for the senior team and debuted in the year 2011. She is the current captain of the India women's national football team. Devi played a pivotal role in India's success in qualifying for the 2021 Olympics which is going to be held in Tokyo. Devi has several achievements with the national team. Devi was a part of the Indian tea that won two South Asian Games gold medals in 2016 and 2019 and was also part of the team that won the SAFF Women's Championship four times consecutively, in 2012, 2014, 2016 and finally in 2019. She was nominated by AFC for the women's player of the year in 2019 and was selected as the AIFF women's player of the year for her performance in the 2018–19 campaign.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 September 2014	Incheon Namdong Asiad Rugby Field, Incheon, South Korea		10–0	15–0	2014 Asian Games
2	13 March 2015	Mandalar Thiri Stadium, Mandalay, Myanmar		2–0	4–0	AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament\|2016 Olympic Qualifiers]
3	15 February 2016	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, India		4–0	4–0	2016 Olympic Qualifiers
4	6 April 2019	Mandalar Thiri Stadium, Mandalay, Myanmar		3–1	3–1	2020 Olympic Qualifiers

India

East Bengal

Sethu FC

Gokulam Kerala

Railways

New Radiant

Individual