All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel on Tuesday said that the national women's side can qualify for the FIFA World Cup before the men's team does, despite the less attention given to them.

Patel said the AIFF is hoping for the women's team to qualify for the 2027 FIFA World Cup. Supporting Patel's view, the sports ministry asked the AIFF to prepare a "concrete and actionable" roadmap to work towards the women team's qualification in the 2027 World Cup.
"Women team's FIFA ranking is better than the men's team, which is very good, when we had less attention to women's football compared to men's," Patel said in a virtual interaction with the members of the U-17 Women's World Cup team with Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in attendance.

"When these kids grow, I feel the women's team will be participating in the World Cup much before the men ...and I�m very hopeful about 2027 edition (of FIFA World Cup). We will continue to give all the support and I am sure these players will very well represent India in future," said Patel.

The women's team is currently ranked 55 out of 159 nations while the men's team is 104 out of 210 countries.