AryaShah at 16:20, 15 April 2026

2026-04-15T16:20:28Z

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{{Short description|Indian footballer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Purnima Kumari
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| fullname =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|2005|2|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = Jambahar, [[Simdega district|Simdega]], [[Jharkhand]], India
| currentclub = [[Sethu FC|Sethu]]
| clubnumber = 2
| height =
| position = [[Defender (association football)|Defender]]
| years1 =
| clubs1 = [[Jharkhand women's football team|Jharkhand]]
| caps1 =
| goals1 =
| years2 = 2021
| clubs2 = Biratnagar Metropolitan City
| caps2 =
| goals2 =
| years3 = 2024–
| clubs3 = [[Sethu FC|Sethu]]
| caps3 =
| goals3 =
| nationalyears1 =
| nationalteam1 = [[India women's national under-17 football team|India U17]]
| nationalcaps1 =
| nationalgoals1 =
| nationalyears2 =
| nationalteam2 = [[India women's national under-20 football team|India U20]]
| nationalcaps2 =
| nationalgoals2 =
| nationalyears3 = 2025–
| nationalteam3 = [[India women's national football team|India]]
| nationalcaps3 = 8
| nationalgoals3 = 0
| club-update =
| nationalteam-update = 15 April 2026
}}
'''Purnima Kumari''' (born 10 February 2005)<ref>{{Cite web |title=AIFF Under 20 National Team - 2 Purnima Kumari |url=https://www.the-aiff.com/players/profile/104044 |access-date=10 February 2025 |website=The AIFF}}</ref> is an Indian professional footballer from [[Jharkhand]] who plays as a defender for the [[Indian Women's League]] club [[Sethu FC|Sethu]] and the [[India women's national football team|India national football team]]. She has also represented [[Jharkhand women's football team|Jharkhand]] in the senior national championships.

== Early life and education ==
Kumari is from Jambahar village, [[Thethaitangar block|Thethaitanger block]], [[Simdega district]], Jharkhand.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=सिमडेगा की बेटी पहुंची फीफा वर्ल्ड कप, मैच देखने के लिए परिजन के पास नहीं है टीवी |url=https://zeenews.india.com/hindi/india/bihar-jharkhand/jamshedpur/simdega-football-player-purnima-kumari-playing-under-17-fifa-world-cup-there-is-no-road-to-go-her-house/1393045 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Zee News Hindi |language=hi}}</ref> Her father’s name Jeetu Manjhi and she has five sisters and a brother, Ranjit Manjhi, who is a daily wage worker. Her brother also runs a roadside cart to sell instant food. Her second eldest sister, Sanmait Kumari brought her up<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2022-10-17 |title=U-17 WC footballer Purnima's family battles acute poverty |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ranchi/u-17-wc-footballer-purnimas-family-battles-acute-poverty/articleshow/94905535.cms |access-date=2025-02-10 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref> after the death of her mother Chaiti Devi in 2006. She comes from a poor family and lives in a thatched hut. Since they do not have a TV at home, the family tried to watch her under–17 World Cup matches on a mobile phone, but bad network let them down. She learnt football playing with her brother during her childhood.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

She studied at Government Middle School, Jambahar and shifted to Ursuline Convent School in Simdega town from Class 6. In 2016, she joined a residential girls football training center in [[Hazaribagh|Hazaribag]] where she joined St. Columbus collegiate school.

== Career ==
Kumari represented India in the 7th [[FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup|FIFA U–17 Women’s World Cup]] 2022 at Odisha.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-05 |title=India's squad for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup 2022 announced |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/indias-squad-for-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup-2022-announced-8191021/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=PTI |date=2022-10-05 |title=India announce 21-member squad for FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup |url=https://www.thehindu.com/sport/football/india-announce-21-member-squad-for-fifa-u-17-womens-world-cup/article65971418.ece |access-date=2025-02-10 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> The Indian team played three matches against [[United States|USA]], [[Brazil]] and [[Morocco]] in Group A and lost all their matches.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-10-10 |title=India at FIFA Women's U-17 World Cup: Meet the squad |url=https://www.espn.in/football/story/_/id/37632773/meet-squad |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=ESPN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=India U17 Scores, Stats and Highlights - ESPN (IN) |url=https://www.espn.in/football/club/_/id/21564/india-u17 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=ESPN |language=en}}</ref>

She took part in the [[School Games Federation of India]] games, [[Subroto Cup]] and in 2019 played the under–17 All India [[Federation Cup (India)|Federation Cup]].<ref name=":1" /> She also played in the under–17 SAFF Women's championship in Bhutan in 2019-2020, under–19 [[SAFF Women's Championship|SAFF Women's championship]] in Bangladesh in 2021 and under–18 SAFF Women's championship in [[Jamshedpur]] in 2022.<ref name=":1" /> She made her senior India debut against Jordan at the Al Hamriya Sports Club Stadium, Sharjah, UAE on 20 February 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Senior India women produce a dominant display to tame Jordan in Sharjah opener |url=https://www.the-aiff.com/article/senior-india-women-produce-a-dominant-display-to-tame-jordan-in-sharjah-opener |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=www.the-aiff.com}}</ref>

In 2021, she played for the club Biratnagar Metropolitan City<ref>{{cite web|title=Nepal fall to India in SAFF U-18 Women's Championship opener|url=https://the-anfa.com/news-detail/1497|website=the-anfa.com|publisher=ANFA|access-date=21 February 2023|date=15 March 2022|archive-date=15 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220315160228/https://the-anfa.com/news-detail/1497}}</ref> in the [[2021 National Women's League (Nepal)|2021]] season of the [[National Women's League (Nepal)|Nepal National Women's League]].

=== Awards ===
Paying for Sethu FC in the Indian Women's League 2025, she bagged the Best Defender award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=List of all individual award winners from IWL 2024-25 season |url=https://khelnow.com/football/indian-football-iwl-individual-award-winners-202505 |access-date=2025-05-01 |website=Khel Now |language=en-us}}</ref>

==Career statistics==
===International===
{{Updated|15 April 2026}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
!National team!!Year!!Caps!!Goals
|-
| rowspan=2|[[India women's national football team|India]]
|2025
|6
|0
|-
|2026
|2
|0
|-
! colspan=2|Total
!8
!0
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.the-aiff.com/players/profile/104044 Purnima Kumari] at All India Football Federation.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kumari, Purnima}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:2005 births]]
[[Category:Indian women's footballers]]
[[Category:India women's international footballers]]
[[Category:India women's youth international footballers]]
[[Category:Footballers from Jharkhand]]
[[Category:Sportswomen from Jharkhand]]
[[Category:People from Simdega district]]
[[Category:Women's association football defenders]]
[[Category:Sethu FC players]]
[[Category:Indian Women's League players]]
[[Category:Indian expatriate women's footballers]]
[[Category:Indian expatriate sportspeople in Nepal]]
[[Category:Expatriate women's footballers in Nepal]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian sportswomen]]

Purnima Kumari - Revision history

AryaShah at 16:20, 15 April 2026