In the latest Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) ‘It’s My Game’ campaign video, very little separates Soleen and her passion for football, which started as early as the age of four. In a family including three brothers, she was the only daughter, and like many children at her age, she also fell in love with the sport by playing street football.

Cindy hails from a village in Gunung (Mountain) Kidul, located southeast of Jogyakarta, Indonesia, and it was in her village that she discovered the joys of playing football despite receiving strong opposition from her brother.

“I loved football the moment I joined my brother when he played the sport in primary school. In the beginning, he did not allow me to play football but asked me to cook instead because it was a rough sport. I cried then,” she recalled.

Lau was filled with pride when she received news on her appointment as one of four female match commissioners for the Asian Qualifiers – the first-time females were appointed to take charge of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Joint Qualifiers.

“I’ve been in charge of other men’s competitions like the AFC Champions League and I was also involved in the FIFA World Cup in Russia as a security officer, so the experience has equipped me to take up this challenge,” she said.

“Expectations are higher when you are the match commissioner for the Asian Qualifiers, but the teams are very co-operative and supportive. But everything went smoothly, and I really cherish the experience.”

This was how three members of the Jordanian national team, captain Stephanie Al Naber, and her teammates Yasmeen Khair and Shorouq Shazly, summed up their feelings on officially retiring.

The trio decided to hang up their boots after illustrious careers going back to 2005, when the Jordanian women’s national team was created.

Kashuba enjoyed a notable playing career for Kyrgyz Republic and after hanging up her boots, she is now striving to make a difference in the sport as the women’s football manager in her country.

Respected by her peers and looked up to by young female footballers, Kashuba rose through the ranks by representing her national team in the U-16 and U-19 women’s competitions before playing at the club level in Kyrgyz Republic.

She looks back fondly at how she started playing football and the memories serve as a reminder of how important her current position is.

Turambekar emerged from humble beginnings in a small village in Kolhapur, India but her rapid rise in the sport has truly been commendable. Determined to chase her dreams, the diminutive Turambekar reflects on the challenges she faced as a child and how it has inspired her to promote the sport at the grassroots level.

“My parents are farmers and I had no sports background. I used to help my parents on the farm but at the same time, I developed an interest in sports. In high school, I noticed that girls were playing football and that’s when I started to enjoy playing the sport.

“I come from a conventional family and it was very stressful to work on a farm and do house chores while focusing on my studies. So, football helped me forget everything,” said the physical education graduate.