[3] The inaugural edition was won by an institutional team of Income Tax Department against Behala Aikya Sammilani.
The popularity considerably rose when the two big clubs of Bengal—East Bengal and Mohun Bagan—formed their respective women's teams to participate in the competition.
Both the teams would reach the finals for two consecutive years, with East Bengal winning in 2001 and Mohun Bagan in 2002.
But, considering no national level honours to fight for, the two clubs found it financially unprofitable to maintain a women's football division, thus East Bengal disbanded it in 2003 and Mohun Bagan in 2004.
In 2020 the tournament was renamed to Kanyashree Cup under the patronage of the state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.