Pooja Jakhar: The Young Indian Forward Leading HOPS FC’s Charge in the Lxme IWL

From Alakhpura’s grassroots football system to decisive international goals, the 19-year-old is central to HOPS FC’s return to India’s top division

As the 2026–27 Lxme Indian Women’s League begins, HOPS FC have a familiar face to look towards for attacking inspiration. Pooja Jakhar, the India youth international from Haryana’s football-producing village of Alakhpura, returns to the top flight after helping the Delhi-based club win the 2025–26 IWL 2 title and secure promotion.

At 19, Jakhar has already experienced several defining moments in Indian women’s football. She has made her senior India debut, scored the decisive goal that took the national U-20 team back to the AFC U-20 Women’s Asian Cup after an absence of nearly two decades, and played a key role in HOPS FC’s earlier top-flight campaigns. Now, with the club preparing for a demanding return to the first division, her pace, versatility and ability to influence important matches will be particularly valuable.

Her inclusion in the league’s “Meet The Unstoppables” promotional campaign reflects her growing profile. But her importance to HOPS FC goes beyond promotional recognition.

Born on February 7, 2007, Jakhar comes from Alakhpura in Haryana’s Bhiwani district, a village widely known as India’s “Mini Brazil” for its contribution to women’s football. The village’s football culture began taking shape in 2006, when physical education teacher Gordhan Dass encouraged schoolgirls to play the sport despite prevailing social restrictions. The programme developed into a grassroots system supported by coach Sonika Bijarniya, whose work helped produce national-level players and international representatives.

For Jakhar, football has also carried significant family responsibility. After losing her father, she grew up in a household where her mother supported the family by rearing buffaloes and cultivating a two-acre farm. With three sisters and two brothers, Pooja’s progress in football has also helped her contribute towards the family’s financial needs.

Her journey reflects the opportunities created by grassroots football in rural India, but also the personal circumstances behind many young athletes who pursue the sport at the highest level.

International breakthrough: From senior debut to U-20 qualification

Jakhar’s international progress gathered momentum between late 2024 and 2026. She made her senior India debut during the national team's friendly series against Maldives and scored in the 41st minute of India's 11-1 victory on January 2, 2025.

Her most consequential contribution came at the 2026 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers in Yangon in August 2025. India began with a 0-0 draw against Indonesia before defeating Turkmenistan 7-0, with Jakhar scoring in the 65th minute.

The decisive fixture was against hosts Myanmar. With qualification at stake, Jakhar scored the only goal of the match in the 27th minute, securing a 1-0 victory. India finished the group unbeaten with seven points and without conceding a goal, ending a wait of approximately two decades to return to the U-20 Asian Cup.

At the finals in Thailand in April 2026, India faced a difficult group, losing 0-6 to Japan and 0-5 to Australia. However, the team finished its campaign with a 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei. Jakhar played 84 minutes of that match before being substituted. The win was India's first at the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup in 22 years.

There is an important distinction in how her regional achievements are described. While the league's promotional material refers to Jakhar as the “SAFF Player of the Tournament 2024–25”, available tournament records do not substantiate that award. Her verified achievement at the 2024 SAFF U-19 Women's Championship was sharing the Golden Boot with four goals. All four came against Bhutan, and India finished joint champions with Bangladesh.

Jakhar's club career has mirrored HOPS FC's fluctuating fortunes. She first made an impression in the 2023–24 IWL season, when the club finished fifth among seven teams. She scored in the 3-0 victory over East Bengal and netted the winner against Sports Odisha. Her movement down the right flank also helped create opportunities, including the opening goal against Sethu FC.

The following season was considerably harder. HOPS finished eighth among eight teams and were relegated, scoring just 10 goals in 14 matches. Jakhar nevertheless produced one of the campaign's standout individual performances, scoring twice in a 3-2 away victory over defending champions Odisha FC in April 2025.

Those two goals accounted for 20 per cent of HOPS FC's entire league-season tally, underlining how much the team depended on her attacking contribution.

The response in IWL 2 was emphatic. HOPS FC won the 2025–26 second-tier competition, putting together a tournament-best run of nine consecutive victories while remaining unbeaten. The title secured their return to the top division. Jakhar was part of the domestic core that carried the club through the promotion campaign, wearing the number 8 shirt during the title run-in.

The challenge ahead in the 2026–27 Lxme IWL

HOPS FC's return comes with a significant challenge. The club's published pre-season squad contains 26 Indian players, with no overseas signings listed. This contrasts with the competition's allowance of up to three foreign players in a starting XI, a resource available to several rivals.

The eight-team league includes established contenders such as defending champions East Bengal, three-time winners Gokulam Kerala and former champions Sethu FC. East Bengal, in particular, enter with considerable attacking strength, including Ugandan internationals Resty Nanziri and Fazila Ikwaput.

For HOPS, squad continuity could be an advantage after the promotion-winning campaign. However, the team will need greater attacking output than it managed during its previous top-flight relegation season.

That places considerable responsibility on Jakhar. Her ability to attack space behind defensive lines, deliver crosses from wide areas and finish inside the penalty box gives HOPS several attacking options. Her experience across forward and attacking-midfield roles also provides tactical flexibility.

The next step is consistency across a full top-flight campaign. Jakhar has already demonstrated that she can influence important matches, both for club and country. HOPS FC will need those contributions regularly as they attempt to establish themselves again in the IWL.

For the young attacker from Alakhpura, the 2026–27 season is an opportunity to turn international promise and promotion-winning experience into sustained impact at the highest level of Indian women's club football.