Badge of Honour (WSL Interview: Asmita Ale)

Leicester City defender Asmita Ale discusses being a visibility figure for South Asian communities in English football, having become the first player of Nepalese origin to sign professionally in England, at Aston Villa in 2019. Now 23 and in her sixth top-flight season, Ale reflects on her family’s Gurkha heritage, close ties to Nepal, and the pride of showing ‘other young South Asians can look up to me’. She discusses the FA’s newly-unveiled three-year plan to boost South Asian participation, rising numbers of young South Asian players she sees around Leicester, and the cultural factors – including first-generation family priorities around education – that have historically limited representation. Ale ends by voicing hope of adding to her England youth caps with a first senior Lioness call-up under Sarina Wiegman.