Dalima Chhibber (born 30 August 1997) is an Indian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a defender for Kickstart and Indian national team.

Early and personal life

Dalima was born in a football-loving family, as both of her parents were soccer players, and her dad made it pro, as did her sister and her brother. She joined her father Om Chhibber's football academy Eves Soccer Club at the age of 7 and eventually went on to play for the Indian women's youth teams. She did her graduation from the

Jesus and Mary College Jesus and Mary College (JMC) is a women-only college of the University of Delhi located in New Delhi, India. The college offers bachelor's degrees in Commerce, Arts, and Mathematics. The college offers honors degrees in Elementary Education, H ...

of the

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

. She is pursuing her Masters in Sports Psychology at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays their games at Investors Group Field. The soccer team play their home games at the University of Manit ...

. She completed her graduation in November 2022. In 2019, she became brand ambassador of sports equipments manufacturer Vector X.

Club career

Dalima played for FC Pune City in 2016-17 Indian Women's League season and then moved to India Rush SC for the 2017–18 Indian Women's League season. She joined Gokulam Kerala FC on 31 March 2019 for the 2019–20 Indian Women's League season. On 14 August 2019, Dalima joined

Manitoba Bisons The Manitoba Bisons are the athletic teams that represent the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The football team plays their games at Investors Group Field. The soccer team play their home games at the University of Manit ...

in Canadian West Universities Premier Division. After two-year long stint and experience with Gokulam Kerala, Chhibber moved back to Canadian side

in August 2022. After spell in Manitoba Bisons, Chhibber returned to India in 2023, signed with Kickstart for 2023–24 IWL season, and became club captain.

International career

Dalima made her international debut in

2016 South Asian games The 2016 South Asian Games, officially the XII South Asian Games, is a major multi-sport event which took place from 5 February to 16 February 2016 in Guwahati and Shillong, India. A total of 2,672 athletes competed in 226 events over 22 spor ...

against Maldives. After that she became a regular choice for the national team. She scored her first goal in

2019 SAFF Women's Championship The 2019 SAFF Women's Championship was the 5th edition of the SAFF Women's Championship, the biennial international women's football championship contested by the national teams of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). Initially, schedule ...

against Bangladesh on 20 March 2019. Her second goal came against Nepal, a 40 yard freekick in the final of the SAFF Championship. For her prolific performance in

she was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament Award.

Career statistics

International

:''Scores and results list India's goal tally first.''

Honours

India *

SAFF Women's Championship The SAFF Women's Championship, also called the ''South Asian Football Federation Women's Cup'', is the main association football competition of the women's national football teams, governed by the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF). All seve ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

South Asian Games The South Asian Games (SAG or SA Games), formerly known as the South Asian Federation Games (SAFG or SAF Games), is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among the athletes from South Asia. The governing body of these games is South Asia Olympic ...

Gold Medal:

Gokulam Kerala *

Indian Women's League The Indian Women's League, known as ''Hero Indian Women's League'' for sponsorship ties with Hero MotoCorp is the women's top tier professional football league in Indian football. Founded in 2016, currently a total of 18 teams from across the c ...

: 2021–22 * AFC Women's Club Championship: third place

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

Kickstart *

runner-up: 2022–23 Individual *

Most Valuable Player

References

External links

Dalima Chhibber
at All India Football Federation * Living people 1997 births Indian women's footballers India women's international footballers India women's youth international footballers Footballers from Delhi Women's association football defenders South Asian Games gold medalists for India Expatriate women's soccer players in Canada Indian expatriate women's footballers Indian expatriate sportspeople in Canada South Asian Games medalists in football Gokulam Kerala FC Women players Indian Women's League players Kickstart FC players Delhi University alumni University of Manitoba alumni Manitoba Bisons women's soccer players University and college women's soccer players in Canada Footballers at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India People from Delhi {{India-women-footy-bio-stub