Hwacheon KSPO’s 4–1 win over East Bengal Women was accompanied by a heartwarming show of support from Kolkata’s Korean community, highlighting football’s ability to build connections across borders.
Kolkata, November 4: Football has a way of bringing people together, even when they are thousands of miles away from home. At the Kishore Bharati Krirangan on Wednesday night, as Hwacheon KSPO WFC secured a 4–1 victory over East Bengal Women in the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026–27, the occasion carried a significance that extended well beyond the three points.
For the South Korean outfit, playing their maiden continental campaign, the evening was about more than recovering from their opening-day defeat to DPR Korea’s 4.25 SC. It was also an opportunity to feel at home in a foreign city. Among the spectators were members of Kolkata’s Korean community, including students who had come to cheer for their country’s representatives. Their presence brought a different atmosphere to the stands, with the visiting players receiving encouragement and support throughout the contest, through chants, claps, slogans.
While 718 spectators attended the fixture at East Bengal’s home ground, the Korean contingent made its presence felt with just barely 25 to 30 people . Their voices and encouragement offered the Hwacheon players a familiar connection in a city far away from home. It was a reminder that international club football is not only about the teams competing on the pitch, but also about the communities and identities they carry with them.
The connection between the Korean side and Kolkata had also been nurtured away from the football field. Mr Yang Myung-seok, Chairman of the Korea Women’s Football Federation, arranged a visit and interaction with members of the Korean community in the city. The meeting provided an opportunity for the players and the community to come together during the team’s stay in India.
There was another heartwarming connection to local football. Among the Korean community members was an individual who runs a football club for local students in Kolkata. The interaction offered a meeting point between two different football environments, with the Hwacheon players also posing for photographs with the young footballers after the occasion. For those students, meeting players competing at the highest level of women’s club football in Asia was an experience that went beyond an ordinary football gathering.
However, Hwacheon’s presence in Kolkata is significant in its own right. The club arrived in India after establishing itself as one of the leading forces in South Korean women’s football. Founded in 2011, the team, initially known as Jeonbuk KSPO before relocating to Hwacheon in 2015, reached a historic milestone in 2025 by winning the WK League title for the first time. They also collected the National Women’s Football Championship and National Sports Festival titles, underlining their domestic dominance.
That success earned them a place in the AFC Women’s Champions League, where they are now experiencing their first taste of continental competition. Their campaign did not begin as planned, with a narrow 1–2 defeat against 4.25 SC on November 1. But Wednesday’s performance demonstrated their ability to respond under pressure.
After conceding an early goal to Fazila Ikwaput, Hwacheon restored parity through Lee Su-bin before Wie Jae-eun and Mun Eun-ju took control of the contest in the second half. Wie completed her brace to seal a convincing 4–1 victory and take the South Korean side to three points from two matches.
The result has put them firmly in contention for a place in the knockout stages, with their final group fixture against Ho Chi Minh City Women’s FC still to come. For a club making its continental debut, the possibility of reaching the next round would add another significant chapter to an already memorable campaign.
On the other side stood the Moshal Girls, a team that has consistently carried the flag of Indian women’s club football beyond domestic boundaries. Back-to-back Indian Women’s League titles, a second consecutive appearance in the AFC Women’s Champions League and the distinction of becoming the first Indian women’s club to feature in the competition more than once, their achievements have been anything but ordinary.
After narrowly missing out on the knockout stages in their debut campaign in China last season, East Bengal Women returned to the continental stage with another domestic title behind them and the ambition to go further. Yet, playing at their own home in front of just 718 spectators, in a locality where the Red And Gold fans dominate, the response from the stands was difficult to reconcile with what this team has achieved.
A side that has repeatedly raised the bar for Indian women’s football deserved far more than a sparse home crowd. The contrast was particularly striking as the visiting Korean contingent made its presence felt throughout the match, backing Hwacheon KSPO with a level of vocal support that the Moshal Girls could only have wished for on their own ground.
Yet Wednesday’s attendance and the contrasting support in the stands offered another perspective on the growth of the women’s game. East Bengal have built a strong identity through their domestic achievements, while Hwacheon’s travelling support showed how a club’s connection with its community can travel across borders.
For the Korean students and members of the community in Kolkata, it was an opportunity to stand behind a team representing their country. For the young local footballers who met the players, it was a chance to connect with a different football culture. And for Hwacheon KSPO, it was a reminder that even on an unfamiliar ground, football can create a sense of belonging.
The scoreline will record a 4–1 victory for Hwacheon KSPO. But the evening at Kishore Bharati was also about something that cannot be measured in goals or points — the connection between a visiting football club, its community back home and the people it met along the way in Kolkata.
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