Playing for ŽNK Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia’s top football league, Jyoti scored the hattrick against ŽNK Agram.
Despite being in a nascent stage, some Indian footballers are doing their best to put Indian football on the map of FIFA. In a first, an Indian women's footballer named Jyoti Chauhan created history by scoring a hattrick in a European top-division football game.
Hailing from Dhar in Madhya Pradesh, the former Gokulam Kerala FC player currently plays for the ŽNK Dinamo Zagreb in the top-tier Croatian football league. In March, Jyoti became the first Indian footballer to score a goal in the league.
Now, she has become the first Indian woman to score a hattrick in the same league for the mentioned outfit. Playing against ŽNK Agram, Jyoti scored in her 28th, 37th and 46th minutes.
Jyoti Chauhan makes history as she clinches a hat-trick for her club ZNK Dinamo Zagreb (??) in the Croatian Women's League, by becoming the first Indian footballer to achieve this record by playing for a top-flight side in Europe! ??? pic.twitter.com/yVvYoBZ3RJ
— IFTWC - Indian Football (@IFTWC) May 21, 2023
Since scoring her first goal in March for the team, Jyoti has been a regular in the starting eleven of the squad, having scored six goals before the hattrick. Ahead of the 2022–2023 season, Jyoti and another Indian, Soumya Guguloth, were asked to give trials for the club.
After successful trials, the club signed both of them, and as of now, they have long-term contracts with ŽNK Dinamo Zagreb.
Reacting to Jyoti’s feat, one user on Twitter wrote, "Damn!!!. If I would be a corporate I would be investing more on womens football, it has much brighter Future and maybe womens will play FIFA WC before mens on merit," whereas another added, "I really hope she is coming to the #Frauenbundesliga to Germany."
A third user added, "Hopefully more Indian footballers (both men's and women's) will move abroad to European leagues in the upcoming years."
Hailing from a humble background, the 23-year-old Jyoti lost her father when she was 12, and her mother supports the family by working as an agricultural labourer.
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