Mumbai , June 9 : India Khelo Football , with support from Tyger Capital, has announced the expansion of its flagship Naari Shakti Trials programme to more than 40 locations across India. The initiative, India’s first all-girls, women-led football scouting programme, aims to address a critical challenge in women’s football: the lack of accessible and structured pathways for young girls to enter the sport.
The expansion follows research conducted by IKF, which found that while 62.7% of girls aspired to pursue football seriously, many faced barriers including limited opportunities, safety concerns, financial constraints and low awareness of professional pathways. The study also revealed that 98.3% of girls felt comfortable participating only in an all-female environment, while 95.8% of participants and parents reported increased confidence when trials were conducted entirely by women.
Designed to address these barriers, Naari Shakti Trials are conducted entirely by women, including scouts, coordinators, referees, physiotherapists and operations staff, creating a professional and supportive environment where girls are assessed solely on football merit.
The programme’s first phase was conducted across Ranipet, Mathura, Pune, Jaipur, Gorakhpur and Siwan, attracting 346 participants, with 42 players progressing into further pathways and 13 female scouts trained. Jaipur recorded the highest participation, with 121 girls taking part in the trials.
Commenting on the initiative, Phani Bhushan, Founder, India Khelo Football said:
“We didn’t build Naari Shakti Trials because girls were asking for a safe space. We built it because our research showed that without one, 98% of them were never going to step onto a trial ground at all. Every girl we scout, every female scout we train, every parent who brings their daughter back for the next round — that is the system correcting itself. Tyger Capital understood that this is infrastructure, not charity. That is why this partnership works.”
Gaurav Gupta, Founder, Managing Director & CEO Tyger Capital, said:
“What stood out to us was the gap between aspiration and access. The research showed that many girls wanted to pursue football seriously, yet lacked a structured pathway to do so. When participation rises simply by creating a safe, women-led environment, it becomes clear that talent has never been the constraint; access has.
At Tyger Capital, our role has always been to enable growth by expanding access to opportunities. The same principle applies here. Naari Shakti Trials is creating visibility, confidence and pathways for young girls who may otherwise never enter the system. The response across six cities has been encouraging, and we are proud to support its expansion to more than 40 locations across India.”