History-making Bala Devi becomes first-ever Indian women’s footballer to earn pro contract overseas after signing for Scottish side Rangers

As a child, a football-hungry Ngangom Bala Devi often found herself playing kick-about among the local boys in her village of Irengbam, in India’s Manipur state. Little did she know that she would become the first-ever Indian women’s footballer to sign a professional overseas contract.

Devi, who turned 30 on Sunday, made history after joining Scottish Women’s Premier League team Rangers FC following a successful week-long trial in Glasgow. She joins from Manipur Police Sports Club on an 18-month deal and will wear the number 10 jersey.

“I’m very excited to sign for two seasons and to be given the number 10. All I want to do is go out there, work hard and make India proud,” said Devi, a veteran striker and captain for the India national team.

“I had confidence that I’d do well [in the trials]. I have represented India for 14 years – and my state for 17. I have also played in Europe twice before. I felt that perhaps given my experience I stood a chance.”

Rangers were surely enticed by Devi’s outrageous goalscoring portfolio for club and country. To date, she has scored a record 52 goals in 58 games for India and remains the Indian Women’s League top-scorer with 38 goals. She was named the All India Football Federation’s women’s player of the year in 2015 and 2016 before having successful stints in the Maldives and Spain.

“I always had a big passion for football. I used to play with the boys and win against them. Then when I joined the national team, I would score against even the high-ranking countries like South Korea,” she recalled. “And when I hear the crowd cheer me on after I score, I have a strong desire to keep going.

“When I started playing football, though, I only had dreams of playing for the national team,” added Devi when asked if she had planned to play professionally. “When I was younger, I had good skills but my fitness wasn’t up to par. It was only until I started in the state’s U-17 team that I felt motivated to keep going.”

Perhaps most impressive is that while Devi was blazing a trail for Indian women’s football, she has been working as a police officer for the Manipur Police. Safe to say she will be putting her state civil duties aside as all focus turns to creating goals at Ibrox Stadium.

Former Rangers player and now ambassador, Mark Hateley, was delighted that the club captured such a decorated women’s footballer. The deal was in part facilitated by Bengaluru FC, which the Gers had formed a development partnership with last year. Devi first visited the Glasgow team’s facilities in November.

“Young ladies deserve the chance to play, and this young lady now has all that on her shoulders,” said Hateley at the Devi’s official club welcoming. “She is now the face of Indian football for ladies … this is a young lady with lots of talent, experience, and creates a lot of goals.

“With the 14 players we’ve signed over the summer, Bala is the icing on the cake for us. We have a lot of young and international players who will need a guiding hand on the pitch.

“I would imagine she’ll be a key player. You don’t give the number 10 out willy-nilly – you have to earn the right and Bala has done that throughout her career … If she’s not playing 90 minutes every game I’ll be very disappointed. No pressure!”

New teammates and coaches aside, Devi wants her history-making transfer to inspire young women’s footballers back home and get the world 57th-ranked Indian women’s national team raring to go. The timing could not be better what with India hosting the U-17 Fifa World Cup 2020 in November.

“Being on the national team gives a lot of exposure for our players,” she said. “We appear on the news and get to travel the country. It helped me move forward in my career and it’s a really good platform for women to help their careers grow. I hope I can be a motivation for young people to follow.”

Additional reporting by Rhea Mogul