Only three countries from South Asia will be taking part in the South Asian Football Federation U-15 Women's Championship, which is all set to kick off at Birshrestha Shaheed Sipahi Mohammad Mustafa Kamal Stadium in Dhaka Tuesday.
Along with hosts Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan are the other participants of the 11-day meet while India, Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka will not take part.
“Pakistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka don't want to participate in age-level competitions. They said they don't have players. They are not serious about women's football,” Anwarul Haq Helal, the general secretary of Saff, told Dhaka Tribune.
“India usually take part in such tournament but this time they don't have preparation. They didn't hold U-15 camp. They have been busy hosting U-17 Women's World Cup. Now, they don't have sufficient time,” he added.
Helal also said they were determined to organize the competition even if there are only three teams.
This is the first time as less as three teams from the region are participating in the competition that was introduced in 2017 with Bangladesh emerging champions and India runners-up.
Two more editions took place since then in the consecutive years where India came up champions on both occasions and Bangladesh finished runners-up.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka took part only in the 2018 edition where they suffered big defeats.
Pakistan conceded 14 goals against Bangladesh while Sri Lanka copped 12 against India before crashing out of the group stages without scoring any.
“It's not a big matter that India are not participating. Nepal and Bhutan are also good teams. They are well prepared,” said Bangladesh women's team head coach Golam Rabbani Choton during a press conference at the BFF House Sunday.
The tournament will be held in round robin league format as each team play with each other twice and the top finishers win the title.
This will be the first international experience for almost all the Bangladesh players who begin their campaign against Bhutan in the tournament opener.