I-League’s only woman CEO: Valanka Alemao

Valanka and her father Churchill Alemao hold the I-League trophy

She is the only I-League CEO to not get any remuneration and yet has delivered the title in her very first season in the new post. She has been called the I-League’s ‘first lady’ as she became the first and till date the only woman to be the Chief Executive Officer of an I-League club.

The woman in question here is Valanka Alemao, the daughter of Churchill Brothers owner Churchilll Alemao. Valanka was born the same year Churchill Brothers were formed and she has been in association with the beautiful game ever since her childhood.

She had been helping her father in running the club for a few years now but it was only last year that she took over as the CEO and the 26-year-old couldn’t have wished for a better first season.

“To be frank, I didn’t even realise when it became a complete profession. We have grown up watching football so that’s nothing new as it runs in the family. But after taking over as the CEO, I have had to deal with various matters both on the pitch and aspects like recruitments, finances, budgeting etc so it has been a new but enjoyable experience,” Valanka told Sportskeeda.

One of the main reasons behind Churchill Brothers’ second I-League triumph was that they made the right moves in the transfer market. Even when they had the setback of losing Lebanese internationals Bilal Najjarin and Akram Moghrabi, Valanka and his team ensured quality was replaced with quality as they signed up Lamine Tamba, Balal Arezou and India captain Sunil Chhetri.

Best CEO already?

Instead of taking credit, Valanka was thankful to the Almighty but revealed how she often has to be the calming influence on her father when it comes to signing players.

“The way my father is, he likes all the players and wants to sign everybody so I have to keep explaining him that it is not possible to sign every good player and that we need to have a proper budget,” Valanka stated.

But more than helping her club win their second Indian league title, Valanka could actually become a role model for aspiring woman sports administrators. Generally, the mainstream media don’t give much coverage to domestic football in India and that didn’t change much even after Churchill Brothers’ success.

However, once it came out that the new I-League champions have a woman CEO, the Goan club received plenty of publicity in the media with the focus being on Valanka. Even today, besides individual sporting icons like Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Indian women are neglected in sports by everybody concerned, starting from the government to the federations and the media.

Valanka herself also wants more and more women to get involved with not just football but sports in general. For starters, she wants to encourage more females to visit I-League venues but also admits the problems regarding the same.

“Football is a sport for the whole family to enjoy, not just the women. However, I definitely want to see more ladies at I-League venues but then again who would want to come for a match when the games are kicking off in the afternoon on weekday. You know generally the I-League venues are quite safe for women except in Kolkata.”

“Whenever I watch a match there, I have to sit like a statue. See, I love Kolkata and admire their passion but we are passionate in Goa also, but we won’t bash you or throw anything at you. This is something that needs to change and of course the federation and clubs have to look at it,” she pointed out.

Valanka must have enjoyed all the publicity and was also recently given a special award by the FPAI (Football Players’ Association of India) but she is certainly not getting carried away after one season and is determined to take Churchill Brothers to newer heights, like success on the Asian stage.

Valanka was recently given an award by FPAI

However, her immediate concerns are to have a proper youth development program at the club and also to get in more sponsors. Valanka rightly describes the passion of her family for the beautiful game as an ‘expensive’ one as there is hardly any financial return from Indian football.

She demands a change in the outlook of the society towards football and believes instead of waiting for someone to take the initiative, she has to be one of the pioneers.

“The mindset must change because you have 70 lakh prize money for winning a competition that runs for nine months and you have similar reward for winning a dance reality show that runs for 30 days! There is hardly any return from the I-League and I am very open about it. There are a lot of factors behind it, like media not giving coverage and no television rights so it becomes very difficult to attract sponsors.

“I am not the CEO here to earn money but I want to make the club and football in general more popular. I am planning on getting our club and players more involved with kids, visit schools and spend time with them because it is very important to build a contact. Presently we see a lot of passion for European and World football among the youngsters but why not Indian football? That is what must change and I want to do something about it,” she opined.

Throughout Sportskeeda’s conversation with Valanka, the Churchill Brothers CEO maintained that the reason for her entry into mainstream football was not just to make her club the best in India (and one day in Asia) but to contribute in some way in achieving the dream of seeing India at the FIFA World Cup.

Who knows? Some years from now, I-League’s first lady could be heading India’s bid to host the world’s biggest football competition.

*All photo credits: Churchill Brothers Media*