Women’s football is a concept that hasn’t been around for very long in Bangladesh.
Still trying to break free from the age-old shackles that bind them, women are slowly but surely coming out of their cocoons and joining the exciting world of sports alongside men. The football scenario in Bangladesh right at the moment is not at all as bright as it used to be but the women’s football team that is relatively newer compared to other countries, however, the football team is still getting more and more success across all the division as time goes by.
The year 2018 has been, up until now an exceptionally good year for the Women’s football team in all age groups. Last year ended with the under 15 national team being crowned the first ever SAFF champions of the U15 regional tournament. The success stories continued throughout 2018 as well.
First off in April 1, 2018, the U15 girls claimed the title of four nation Jockey CGI Youth Football Tournament. On their way to victory, they thrashed Malaysia in a 10-1 victory, put Iran down after scoring eight times and finally beat Honk Kong in a 6-0 final scorecard to
come out as the undefeated champion of the tournament.
After that, the U15 team traveled to Bhutan to participate in the SAFF 2018 Tournament and try to retain their place as the champions. They easily dismantled Pakistan later clinching victory against Nepal and Bhutan to finally face off against India in the finals. However, after putting up a good fight they lose to the Indian women team losing their place as the title holders of the tournament. The reason for losing the SAFF championship was not because of bad play from the team rather sheer luck that held them back. Even after having dominated most of the final, a fluke goal resulting from an Indian counter attack as well as the ball literally hitting the bar twice led to the ultimate downfall of the team. This defeat still highlights the long way that the women’s football has come in the past few years.
In the AFC U16 Women’s qualifier, the U16 team clinches back to back victories against Lebanon, UAE and Vietnam successfully confirming a place in the second round of the tournament. In the second half of the year the U18 SAFF tournament was held in Bhutan where the national U18 team decimated Pakistan in a 17-0 victory before moving on to the semis after defeating Nepal. Finally, they come out as the champions after beating Nepal in the final and Bhutan in the semifinal. This was a momentous event for the U18 Women’s team becoming the champion in a major tournament like the SAFF. However, the team experienced a different fate in the AFC U19 qualifiers held in Tajikistan where after being defeated by South Korea and Chinese Taipei, the team finally clinches their first victory against Tajikistan ending their AFC campaign. These strings of defeat can be easily seen as a lack of expertise in the international level, a lack that can be overcome as the players get more and more accustomed to playing at the international level and become more experienced in how to handle difficult situations with professional calmness.
The year 2018 also saw the first ever participation by Bangladeshi women in a futsal tournament, namely the AFC Women’s Futsal tournament. The Bangladeshi women did show a lot of promise in the tournament playing quite well throughout the tournament. However, because of lack of expertise ultimately the women futsal team went out of the tournament after concurrent losses and finally losing to Taipei. This was a tournament where instead of looking at the results it is more important to note the ease and finesse with which the women footballers embraced a new form of sport in the international stages.
In November 2018, the Olympic Asian qualifiers start for the Bangladesh Women’s National team in Myanmar. However, the team on its first game against Myanmar conceded 5 goals making the loss quite a telling one. The team also lost their second consecutive game against India in the qualifiers before drawing against Nepal to finish their qualifier journey for the year. However, the positive thing was that this is the first time that the senior women’s team has not lost against a strong opposition like Nepal giving the young team hope for a better future ahead. The year 2018 has been an all-around good year for the rise of the women footballers.
Bangladesh Football Federation has taken the overall progress of Women’s football in all seriousness. It is easy to understand not only from the successes of the women’s football in all the divisions and in the international stage but also from the hard-fought failures that the women players that are coming into the fray are tough and qualified. These players will surely come out as better footballers as they gain more experience in the international field. As the days go by and the current footballers mature more Bangladesh Women’s football team can become a formidable force in the football scenario in near future. Maybe one day Bangladeshi women footballers will go head to head with footballers from other countries and looking at the trend of women football and the speed with which the progress of women footballers is going on we can hope that the day is not further off.
