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“Each of us carries a unique story shaped by our roots and the routes travelled to get to where we are. This year, the invitation is to reflect on your journey, whether from ancestral origins to the paths you’ve taken, or something more recent, and how these experiences shape your identity today.”

That's the theme for South Asian Heritage Month 2025: Roots to Routes. So we asked a player with mixed heritage roots to reflect on her journey so far. It’s a career that’s taken her to four different countries so far, and this week she signed for Burnley FC. 

Millie Chandarana grew up in Manchester with an Indian father and an English mother. As one of very few female players of South Asian heritage to play at an elite level in England, she’s lost count of the number of times she’s been asked about the impact of Bend it Like Beckham on her career. Her own debut, she explains, was slightly less ‘iconic’.

“It was a trial for the primary school team, which was a boys’ team, of course, back then. The first thing I did was take a shot... but at my own goal. I think it went in. At that point I didn’t think I’d still be playing 20 years later!” she laughs. 

Going to her Manchester United-supporting grandad’s house to watch games on TV helped Millie develop the football bug further, fuelled by the fact that her father was a Manchester City fan.  

“It's a bit of a family rivalry, and they were both a big influence in getting me involved in playing. My first girls’ team was Curzon Ashton, which is local to me. I was lucky because there weren't many girls’ teams around, and even luckier still, the Manchester FA Centre of Excellence was also at Curzon Ashton. I had both on my doorstep.” 

 

Quicker

As her football abilities developed, another stage of her education would further expand her horizons. While studying at Loughborough University, Millie was required to undertake a placement year. After spending a month in Spain as a PE teacher, she was beginning to settle in, when she received another reply.  

“I had applied for a lot of different roles, and one of them was based in Dubai, in the UAE. The role was to be a Wellness Coach at a University in Sharjah, and as this was closer to what I wanted to do, I decided to try my luck there.”

With little organised women’s football at the time, Millie played a lot of mixed-gender five-a-side games and quickly realised her technique and fitness had improved massively. “I got so much quicker and faster on the ball, especially due to the heat. When I came back for my final year, I took it a lot more seriously and played for both the university and Loughborough Foxes.”  

A desire to continue her academic studies led to the next stage of Millie’s football odyssey. Her initial plan was to study for a masters in America for two years and train full-time. However, a gut feeling that this was not her intended path at the age of 21 meant that instead she used every contact she had to find a team. Eventually, one responded positively.

“A team in Italy called Tavagnacco – who I'd never heard of before – took a chance on me. To be honest with you, I was scared. I was on the plane and thought, what am I doing?”

Her parents travelled with her, equally unconvinced about the latest step in their daughter’s career. “My dad thought the contract offer was a fake and wasn’t even sure if it was a real place! But I ended up playing in the top league of Italy, which was a big jump in standard [from the third tier in England]. At that point he thought ‘she knows what she’s doing.’ Then they left me to it.” 

The role of supportive families is often an important narrative behind successful athletes, yet when it comes to British Asians, there is a myth that has been perpetuated for many years. In 2022, of 15,000 footballers in the country, only 115 of them were British South Asians, according to a PFA study, despite the ethnic group making up around 7 per cent of the country’s population. 

Dr Daniel Kilvington is a senior lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at Leeds Beckett University and a prominent researcher in racism, sport, and media. At the time of the study he stressed that, contrary to the stereotype, the low rate of participation had nothing to do with Asian parents telling their kids to focus on school or the South Asian children preferring other disciplines like cricket or hockey over football. “These are all misconceptions about British Asians which are completely untrue,” he said.

Instead, Kilvington explained, it was the stereotypes and biases themselves that are the major hurdles for those from the South Asian communities in football. “The difference in culture or the lack of interest no longer remain valid, but the racialised stereotypes surrounding South Asians are what is really holding them back,” he concluded. 

In June 2020, Millie conducted what would become one of many media interviews – this one with The Guardian – on this related topic. How does she see the situation currently? 

“I think it's just a matter of time,” she answers, without hesitation. “When I was contacted for that interview, I didn’t really realise that there were not many South Asian players. Five, six years on, we're still having these conversations regularly, but I think the fact that parents and families now see that women can play football for a living is going to drive more participation.

“When I was growing up, I couldn't have made a living out of it. And my dad was worried about that. Now, year on year, the game is getting more professional, there's more teams going full-time and there's more opportunities. I've had chats with younger girls and explained that you can become a coach, an analyst or one of the many other roles there are now.  

“It’s also still about awareness. We've spoken about this for years now, but I do believe it's about role models too. If people can see that we're playing at the highest level or there's a culture of coaching at the highest level, they can do that as well.” 

 

Opened doors

Millie’s standing in the game has opened doors far beyond ‘just’ playing overseas. She has sat on a panel discussion with Australia’s first female Prime Minister, chatted on the BBC Breakfast sofa and been named in the British South Asians team of the season, alongside male peers. 

She has also received the world’s first South Asians in Football Leadership scholarship, allowing her to work closely with Sky Sports News journalist Dev Trehan while studying part-time as an MSc Football Business student at GIS. Last season, remarkably, she combined her studies with her football and won a league and cup double with Nottingham Forest Women.  

“Last season was incredible,” she says, beaming. “It was definitely my best year in football. I really learned a lot about myself, and how a professional environment should look like. I've now seen what it takes to win a league, and it’s one of the best feelings ever.” 

While humbly acknowledging that at the age of 28, she is still learning on the field, off it, she has been looking ahead to the future as part of The Next Goal – the career transition programme from Women in Football with LHH and The Adecco Group. Her mentor on the programme is the FA’s Rachel Pavlou – a matter of pride and delight to Millie.

“It's crazy to be learning from Pav. She was instrumental in setting up the Centre of Excellence that I attended as an eight-year-old! Female players must always look to the future because a football career is short. The Next Goal programme provides us with the platform, the right tools and the right connections. I don't need to wait until I'm 35 to think about what I want to do next.”

 

 

As we start to wrap up our conversation, we ask Millie what she thinks her post-playing career could look like. While many of her peers have ventured into punditry, and others have started to dabble in photography, or coaching, the future evolution of the English league pyramid is one area that interests her currently.

“Having women who have had that playing experience work on the other side of women's football is something that's only going to elevate the game more. We've been there. We've done that. We know how it works. We know how it should be,” she says emphatically.  

“At the minute I don't really have a set goal. I do want to do something within the women's game, whether that's progressing it in the UK, or somewhere abroad. How can I add value?  

“I've also had conversations with younger South Asian girls playing football who are not in academies. How can we tackle that? I'm passionate about this too. in the short term, alongside playing, I may try mentoring, helping those girls get to where they want to be. There's so many participating – how can we get them to the next stage, into academies and into the first teams?”

Before we finally let Millie go, we ask if she has a sage bit of advice, or a mantra by which she lives her own life?

“One thing that jumps out is something I learned from a former teammate. I was in my second year in Italy, struggling a bit with being in and out of the team. Some things were not fair in my eyes at that point, and she said to me: football is just opinions. Years later, that’s stuck with me. You may not always agree with someone, but it's just their opinion. Try not to let it drag you down. The world is a lot bigger than just one person.

“Also, work hard, and enjoy what you do. If you enjoy your game, you're going to play well. And if you work hard, you're going to get better. Trust me!”

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