Mahfuza Akter Kiron, the women’s wing committee chairperson, stated that winning the SAFF Women’s Championship 2024 was a miracle, given the lack of proper training facilities leading up to the competition.
The country’s primary football venue, the Bangabandhu National Stadium, has been unavailable for the past three years due to ongoing renovations.
Meanwhile, the turfs at two other venues — Birshrestha Shaheed Sepahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur and the BFF Artificial Turf in Arambagh — have deteriorated from overuse.
Bangladesh’s female footballers prepared at Bashundhara Sports Complex, the home ground of Premier League champions Bashundhara Kings, which is located considerable distance from their camp.
“Bangladesh Football Federation can’t do anything alone. We don’t have a field. We can’t practice. In this situation, I would say Bangladesh becoming South Asian champions is a miracle,” Kiron told reporters at her office at the BFF House Sunday.
“I was a FIFA council member and am still an AFC member. I work with the whole world and know what is required for football development, which includes support from the government. Bangladesh football is surviving on sponsor money. Kazi Salahuddin (former BFF president) used his name and reputation to secure funds. I also tried my best,” she added.
The Bangladesh women’s football team have now been crowned South Asian champions twice in a row.
They secured their first title in 2022 and retained the trophy last week, remaining unbeaten on both occasions.
Kiron emphasized the need for more sponsorship support to elevate the team to the next level on the world stage.
“If we don’t play at least five-six friendly matches against strong teams, we can’t progress to the next level or achieve success at the Asian level. The players won’t get opportunities in Europe unless they reach the Asian level. We need sponsors for this,” said Kiron, who is also an elected executive member of the football federation.
Kiron also addressed the issue of overdue wages for national footballers.
“Nowhere in the world do footballers receive salaries from the federation. They earn through playing in leagues. We did this because the situation in our country is different. It was challenging to convince FIFA to use their funds to pay player salaries. Once we receive the money from FIFA, we will pay them,” Kiron explained.