When Nita Football Academy defended its Odisha Women’s League title last month, celebrations erupted. For the young women, the title defense was a moment of great pride. For Head Coach Paromita Sit, however, the victory was just a steppingstone towards building something lasting in Indian women’s football. As a former India international, Paromita knows what it takes to play at the highest level. And quite naturally, the news of the FIFA Women’s World Cup expanding to 48 teams from 2031 and the Olympic Women’s Football Tournament increasing to 16 nations from 2028 is a development that excites her. “We have raw talent, but we need structure,” she tells The Bridge. “If we focus on development now, the next decade could see Indian women’s football stepping up in ways we once thought were too far-fetched,” she reflects. Incidentally, these are ideologies that did not quite exist when she began playing. A football dream in a mining town Born in Jharia, a town shaped by coal mines and tough working conditions, Paromita spent her first ten years …