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Bala Devi

Indian footballer (born 1990) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bala Devi

Ngangom Bala Devi (born 2 February 1990) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward for the Indian Women's League club Sreebhumi and the India national team.

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Bala Devi
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Personal information
Full name Ngangom Bala Devi
Date of birth (1990-02-02) 2 February 1990 (age 35)
Place of birth Irengbam, Bishnupur district, Manipur, India
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Sreebhumi
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015 New Radiant 7 (25)
2016–2017 Manipur Police
2017 Eastern Sporting Union 3 (4)
2017–2018 KRYPHSA 7 (12)
2018–2019 Manipur Police 7 (26)
2020–2021 Rangers 9 (2)
2022 Manipur Police
2023 Odisha 8 (6)
2023–2024 Manipur Police
2024– Sreebhumi
International career‡
2005 India U17 3 (5)
2006–2007 India U19 8 (5)
2005– India 58 (48)
Medal record
Representing  India
SAFF Women's Championship
Winner2010 Bangladesh
Winner2014 Pakistan
Winner2016 India
South Asian Games
2010 BangladeshTeam
2016 IndiaTeam
2019 NepalTeam
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 October 2021
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 October 2024
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In this Meitei name, the family name is Ngangom and the given name is Bala. "Devi" is a name suffix.

Club career

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Perspective

Born in Irengbam village, Bishnupur district in Manipur,[1] Bala Devi grew up playing the game with mainly boys.[2] She was a part of the Manipur U-19 team that took part in the Under-19 Women's Championship in Assam in 2002. After the tournament she was declared the best player of the tournament.[2] She was awarded the same title the next year in 2003.[2] She also earned top-scorer awards at the under-17 level for her state.[2] Eventually, Devi went on to represent the Manipur Senior Women's Football Team in the Senior Women's National Football Championship.[3] She was very influential in her state, winning the women's football championship in 2014, scoring a brace as Manipur defeated Odisha in the final 3–1.[4] This was Manipur's first championship since 2010 and their 17th overall. While playing with Manipur, Devi was teammates with India captain and AIFF Women's Player of Year, Oinam Bembem Devi.[4] She finished the tournament scoring 29 goals in seven matches.[2]

During the 2015 National Games of India, Devi represented her state as they won the gold medal. She scored the equalizer in the final against Odisha to make it 1–1 at the Corporation Stadium. The team went on to win the match 4–2 on penalties.[5]

In 2014, Devi signed a contract with New Radiant WSC[6] of Maldives in the FAM Women's Football Championship alongside players Oinam Bembem Devi and Lako Phuti Bhutia.

She played inaugural season of Indian Women's League 2016–17 with Manipur Police Sports Club in qualifying round and in Final Round played with Eastern Sporting Union. In 2017–18 IWL 2nd season she joined KRYPHSA and in 2018–19 IWL 3rd season she re-joined Manipur Police Sports Club.

In January 2020, Devi signed a professional contract of 18 months with Scottish Women's Premier League club Rangers, making her one of the few Indian women to become a professional footballer abroad.[7][8] On 6 December 2020, she became the first Indian woman to score in a professional football league in Europe by netting for the Rangers, as they won against Motherwell by 9–0.[9] An ankle injury ruled her out for the rest of the matches and she later parted ways with the club.

In December 2022, Devi moved to Spain along with Elangbam Panthoi Chanu, and underwent training cum trial stint at Spanish Segunda Federación club Málaga.[10]

In 2023, she signed with Indian Women's League debutant Odisha WFC.[11]

International career

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Perspective

Devi's first tournament with the national team was at the under-17 level in 2005.[2] She has represented India at the senior level since 2005.[12] She also represented the India women's under-19 side in 2006 and 2007.[13][14] She was a part of the India team that took part in the first women's SAFF Championship in 2010.[15] On 13 December 2010 she scored five goals in India's opening match of the tournament against Bhutan as India won 18–0.[16] India went on to win the tournament, defeating Nepal 1–0.[17] She scored total 8 goals in 5 matches.

Despite being a part of the 2010 winning team, Devi was not included in the India squad that won the tournament again in 2012.[18] She did return to the team for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers in May 2013 but India failed to qualify.[19]

On 27 October 2014, it was announced that Devi was selected into the India squad that was to participate in the 2014 SAFF Women's Championship, her first SAFF Championship since 2010.[20] She started the tournament in fantastic form as she scored four goals in the opening match against Maldives.[21] Her form continued into the next match against Bangladesh as she scored a brace in a 5–1 victory for India.[22][23] Devi then scored five more goals in the final group stage match against Afghanistan on 17 November.[24][25] She finished the group stage with eleven goals from three matches.[26]

During the semi-final against Sri Lanka Devi scored only once in a 5–0 thrashing.[27] However, in the final, Devi managed to find the net four times as India defeated Nepal 6–0 to claim their third straight SAFF Championship crown.[28][29]

Devi finished the 2014 SAFF Championship with sixteen goals in only five matches.[3] Due to her performance in the tournament, Devi was awarded the Women's Player of the Year award by the All India Football Federation.[3] Also awarded in the next year 2015 Indian Women's Player of the Year. In 2016 South Asian Games she scored 3 goals in 5 matches. She also captained India women's national football team in 2016 SAFF Women's Championship. She also clinched the title first time as a captain.

Personal life

While a semi-professional footballer in India, Devi also worked as a policewoman for the Manipur Police. She was promoted to Inspector rank following her impressive performance in football for Rangers.[2] She completed her education at the Oinam Thambal Marik College.[2]

International statistics

As of 27 October 2024
More information Appearances and Goals by year, Year ...
Appearances and Goals by year
YearAppsGoals
2007 2 1
2008 0 0
2009 0 0
2010 5 9
2011 3 3
2012 0 0
2013 4 0
2014 8 18
2015 2 0
2016 6 3
2017 7 1
2018 4 4
2019 8 7
2020 0 0
2021 0 0
2022 0 0
2023 6 0
2024 3 2
Total5848
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International goals

As of 27 October 2024
Score and results list India's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Bala Devi's goal.
More information ‡ ...
Key
‡ Indicates goal was scored from a penalty kick
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More information Goal, Cap ...
Goal Cap Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1. 120 October 2007Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Gurgaon, India Iran3–03–02008 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification[30]
2. 313 December 2010Bir Shrestha Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh Bhutan1–018–02010 SAFF Women's Championship[31]
3. 2–0
4. 3–0
5. 4–0
6. 5–0
7. 415 December 2010 Sri Lanka1–07–0[32]
8. 621 December 2010 Pakistan1–08–0[33]
9. 4–0
10. 5–0
11. 818 March 2011Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh Bangladesh1–03–02012 Summer Olympics qualification[34]
12. 2–0
13. 3–0
14. 1514 September 2014Namdong Asiad Rugby Field, Incheon, South Korea Maldives3–015–02014 Asian Games[35]
15. 8–0
16. 1813 November 2014Jinnah Sports Stadium, Islamabad, Pakistan Maldives1–08–02014 SAFF Women's Championship[36]
17. 2–0
18. 4–0
19. 5–0
20. 1915 November 2014 Bangladesh3–1 ‡5–1[37]
21. 5–1
22. 2017 November 2014 Afghanistan2–012–0[38]
23. 4–0
24. 6–0
25. 7–0
26. 11–0
27. 2119 November 2014 Sri Lanka2–05–0[39]
28. 2221 November 2014 Nepal2–06–0[40]
29. 3–0
30. 5–0
31. 6–0
32. 2713 February 2016Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong, India Bangladesh2–05–12016 South Asian Games[41]
33. 5–1
34. 2815 February 2016 Nepal3–04–0[42]
35. 357 April 2017Kim Il-sung Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea Uzbekistan1–41–72018 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualification[43]
36. 4011 November 2018Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon, Myanmar Bangladesh2–07–12020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament[44]
37. 3–0
38. 5–0
39. 7–0
40. 4229 August 2019Yakkasary Stadium, Tashkent, Uzbekistan Uzbekistan1–01–5Friendly[45]
41. 463 December 2019Pokhara Rangasala, Pokhara, Nepal Maldives2–05–02019 South Asian Games[46]
42. 3–0
43. 475 December 2019 Sri Lanka6–06–0[47]
44. 487 December 2019 Nepal1–01–0[48]
45. 499 December 2019 Nepal1–02–0[49]
46. 2–0
47. 5617 October 2024Dasharath Rangasala, Kathmandu, Nepal Pakistan3–05–22024 SAFF Women's Championship[50]
48. 5723 October 2024 Bangladesh1–31–3[51]
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Note
Eleven matches which Devi played, one against Chinese club Century Park FC in 2014 where Devi scored a hattrick; match played against Spanish club UD Alzira in 2018 where she scored a goal;[52] three matches played during 2018 Cotif Cup against Fundación Albacete, Levante UD & Madrid CFF;[53][54][55] two friendlies played against CF Athletico Carcer, where she scored a goal and UD Alzira in 2019; and four matches played during 2019 Cotif Cup against Villarreal CF, Bolivia U20, Mauritania & Spain U20 where she scored two goals, are not FIFA A international matches and thus the seven goal that she scored are also not considered FIFA A international goals.[56][57][58][59]

Honours

India

Eastern Sporting Union

Manipur

New Radiant WSC

Individual

See also

References

Further reading

External links

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