Capri Sports’ ‘Built to Shine’ campaign spotlights IWL players as its 15-year AIFF partnership aims to strengthen the commercial future of Indian women’s football.
Kolkata, October 30: Indian women’s football has never been short of talent. What it has often lacked is the attention, visibility and commercial backing needed to give that talent the recognition it deserves. As the Indian Women’s League prepares to enter its 10th edition on November 13, a new initiative is offering a glimpse of how that picture could begin to change.
Since Odisha Women were crowned champions of India in 2024 and qualified for the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League, the path for Indian women’s football has never looked darker. Whether at the national-team or club level, Indian women’s football has continued to make strides. From East Bengal FC Women’s back-to-back appearances in the Asian competition to their triumph in the inaugural SAFF Women’s Club Championship, and now Kolkata hosting the AFC Women’s Champions League, which kicks off on November 1, women’s football in India has been blooming day by day.
And now, with Capri Sports stepping onto the pitch ahead of the 10th edition of the Indian Women’s League, the landscape is beginning to change even further.
Behind the initiative is Capri Sports, which has entered into a 15-year partnership with the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to commercially develop the Indian Women’s League and IWL 2. The long-term agreement brings a new commercial dimension to the leagues, with the potential to build stronger connections between the competition, its clubs, its players and its audience.
But before the new season gets underway, Built to Shine has already made a statement about where that change could begin: with the players themselves.
Eight footballers. Different clubs. One frame, with the IWL trophy at the centre. The striking photographs released on the league’s official Instagram page under the campaign ‘Built to Shine’ offer a different kind of introduction to the players who will soon return to the pitch for another season of competition.
Photographed by Ridhika Mehra, the campaign brings eight IWL footballers into a carefully styled studio setting. Dressed in their respective team kits and surrounded by footballing elements, the players are presented not just as competitors, but as individuals worthy of attention beyond the 90 minutes on the pitch.
The concept is simple, yet significant. Women’s footballers are accustomed to training, travelling and competing for their clubs, often without receiving the same level of visibility enjoyed by their counterparts in the men’s game. Here, the focus shifts from match results and league standings to the people who make the competition possible.
For Capri Sports, this is one of the first glimpses of its approach to the women’s game. As the company looks to develop the IWL commercially, putting the players at the centre of the conversation offers a starting point for a different kind of engagement with the league, as the Capri sports director Jinisha Sharma already displayed.
Yet the league’s development cannot be measured by football alone. Consistent competition, stronger club structures, greater audience engagement and improved commercial opportunities all have a role to play in shaping its future.
Capri Sports’ 15-year partnership with the AIFF brings a long-term dimension to that process. Rather than being limited to a single season, the agreement creates an opportunity to work towards sustained commercial development across the IWL and IWL 2.
The “Built to Shine” campaign provides an early, visible example of how that ambition can be presented. It gives the league’s players a platform outside the usual matchday coverage and creates an opportunity for supporters to engage with the faces behind their teams.
Of course, a photoshoot alone cannot transform the landscape of women’s football. The larger test will lie in what follows, how consistently the players are promoted, how the league builds its audience, how clubs benefit from the growing attention and how commercial investment translates into meaningful opportunities across the game.
But visibility is an important part of that journey. Players need to be seen before their stories can reach a wider audience, and competitions need to create reasons for people to follow them beyond the final score.
For Indian women’s football, the significance of this approach will ultimately depend on whether the attention continues after the photographs disappear from the timeline. The next step is to turn visibility into sustained interest, and interest into a stronger connection between the players, their clubs and the supporters who follow them.
With Capri Sports beginning its long-term association with the league, “Built to Shine” is an early glimpse of that changing picture. The real measure of its success will be whether the spotlight stays on the players long after the campaign ends.
Featured faces:
Malavika P (Sethu FC)
Cindy Colney (NITA FA)
Shubhangi Singh (Gokulam Kerala)
Shruti Kumari (Gharwal United)
Pooja Jhakar (HOPS FC)
Kiran (Juba Sangha FC)
Panthoi Chanu (East Bengal Women’s)
Anushka Kumari (Kickstart Women’s)
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