Jyoti Chouhan created history in women’s football by becoming the first Indian female player to score a goal in a European championship final.
According to reports arriving here on Monday, Jyoti scored for her club ZNK Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatia Women’s Cup final versus ZNK Split on Sunday.
Jyoti, the first Indian player to score a hat-trick in European football, gave her team a 2-1 lead just after halftime on Sunday. However, her efforts were in futile as defending champions Split won 3-2 thanks to two goals from midfielder Aida Hadzic in the 74th and 87th minutes.
Jyoti has had a standout season with the Croatian club, netting a hat-trick against ZNK Agram just a few weeks ago.
Jyoti, from Madhya Pradesh, has signed a one-year contract with ZNK Dinamo Zagreb, the ladies’ side of multiple-time Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb, and is the club’s first international acquisition ahead of the start of the season.
Jyoti represented Gokulum Kerala till last year, when she helped the team win the Indian Women’s League. She and her Gokulum partner Soumya Guguloth are ZNK Dinamo Zagreb’s first international recruits.
Jyoti was tutored, assessed, and trained by coaches from five foreign teams prior to joining Zagreb (Rangers WFC, Marbella FC, ZNK Dinamo Zagreb, Western Sydney Wanderers FC, and Melbourne Victory FC) with the hopes of being selected and handed a professional contract. They also played two friendly matches in Kolkata against local boys’ teams.
Source:IANS