East Bengal sign 33-year-old Japanese centre-back Hitomi Tanaka

East Bengal FC have signed 33-year-old Japanese defender Hitomi Tanaka, the club announced on 2026-09-22, ahead of the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 Group Stage games and the IWL 2026-27. The move brings an experienced foreign centre-back into the defending Indian Women’s League champions’ squad.

East Bengal won the 2025-26 Indian Women’s League with a 14-point margin, finishing on 39 points from 14 matches with 13 wins and only one loss, which came against Kickstart FC. That title secured qualification for the AFC Women’s Champions League Qualifiers, where the Moshal Girls won all three group matches, scored 18 goals and conceded none. The Torchbearers have completed a couple of signings to bolster the squad before the start of the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27.

Hitomi Tanaka is a right-footed Centre-Back who has spent the bulk of her professional career in Spain’s first and second divisions. Her first move from Japan was to Albacete, where she spent the next three seasons. She later signed for Cordoba CF Feminino, joining the club shortly before the Covid-19 outbreak, which delayed her playing time there.

After the interruption, Tanaka moved to Santa Teresa CD for the 2021-22 season and spent a single season before transferring to CP Cacereño Feminino. The following season she joined Secció Esportiva AEM (also known as AEM Lleida). In 2024-25 she signed for SC Huelva; that one season with the club led to her subsequent move to the Netherlands.

In the Netherlands Tanaka played for Hera United. In the 2025-26 season she made over 20 appearances for the team and played the 3rd most amount of minutes out of any player.

Tanaka is described as a fast, agile defender who contributes to play by making aggressive tackles and by progressing forward on the pitch without the ball. Her experience across Spanish divisions and the Dutch league is presented as a reinforcement to East Bengal’s defensive options.

Tanaka joins East Bengal’s squad for the AFC Women’s Champions League 2026-27 Group Stage games and the IWL 2026-27. Her signing is one of a couple of additions intended to strengthen the squad ahead of those competitions.