Crisp passing, brilliant dibbling, coordinated attacks through either flanks and tight defending resulted in truly scintillating performances for Bangladesh on way to clinching the title of the SAFF U-19 Women Championship, but it was far from an easy task for the girls, who had to cross multiple hurdles to reach these heights.

Restrictions from society and in some cases, family, deterred these girls from football, but they defied the odds and burst onto the scene thanks to inspiration from teachers, dedicated local coaches and family members and the introduction of the government venture, the Bangamata Gold Cup Primary School Football tournament.

They were then picked by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) for advanced training programmes designed to sharpen their knowledge of football.

Now, they are not only entertaining the entire nation through dazzling performances but also bringing laurels for the nation one after another, all the while clearing the path for others to come into the sport without hesitation.

This group of girls started their international journey in December in 2015 and impressed all and sundry by becoming champions in the now-defunct AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Competition.

They have not looked back since, defending their title in Tajikistan the following year before gradually maturing and putting up some stunning performances against strong sides like Chinese Taipei and Iran to qualify for the finals of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship. Such performances compelled the BFF to bring in technical director Paul Smalley in late 2016 to further enhance the girls' standard of play.

So far, the girls have shown their ability in age-group tournaments by winning the SAFF U-15, U-18 and U-19 Women's Championships and qualified for the six-team final round of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship twice.

But they are still well away from becoming a strong senior women's football team. Despite the girls shining in age-group tournaments, their future is unclear due to weak infrastructure for women's football, financial constraints and girls dropping out after a certain age.

However, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, the chairman of the BFF Women's Wing, is optimistic about the future.

"Forming a strong senior women's team is a process and we are on the right path. Some players like Krishna Rani, Israt Jahan Swapna, Misrat Jahan Mousumi, Masura Begum and Sheuli Azim have already made it into the senior team after coming through age-group teams. Others like Maria Manda, Monica Chakma, Anuching Mogini, Anai Mogini, Tahura Khatun, Shamsunnahar Sr and Akhi Khatun are going to be national-team regulars. We need three to four years to get a strong national team I think," Kiron opined.

"We now have 70-plus players in different age-group teams at the moment. We have a lot of players who belong to the same level. If you looked back at the U-19 match against Sri Lanka, only four regular players were fielded. The rest came from the bench. That means we have a lot of players of a similar standard. We are going forward with a strong pipeline," Kiron said, adding that only financial constraints were hampering them from making a proper plan for the senior team.

Head coach Golam Rabbani Choton praised upcoming players, labelling them as talented as their predecessors.

"We had been wondering how U-15 players like Shaheda Akter Ripa, Afeida Khandokar and Swapna Rani would perform in the tournament. But you saw Ripa named player of the tournament while defender Afeida scored a hattrick. So there are a lot of talented players in the pipeline. They just need to get more international experience to be sharper," said long-serving coach Choton, adding that they had worked with the girls through digital platforms during the pandemic.

The biggest thought on everyone's mind now is what the future holds for this talented pool of trailblazers. The BFF is undoubtedly patronising a pool of age-group players, but it is now high time for stakeholders within the BFF, government and clubs to chalk out a sustainable development programme for the senior women's football team if they truly want to see them reach the next level.