The champions deserve better

The Bangladesh women's football team have been injecting fresh air for years amidst all the doldrums.

Last year in September, the women in red and green lived up to their reputation of being one of the powerhouses in the sub-continent as they clinched their maiden SAFF Championship title after beating hosts Nepal.

The whole country was on cloud nine with immense joy and pride following such a success, which the men's national team achieved as far back as 2003.

In the backdrop of such a glowing story, it came as a big surprise when the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi Salahuddin revealed just six days before the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Football Qualifying Tournament that it would pull out of the competition in Myanmar, citing financial constraints.

Undoubtedly, the BFF has played a big part to give women's football shape in the country but the question has been raised, in this regard, whether the game's governing body was sincere enough to give the golden girls a fitting treatment as well whether they have any mission or vision to take country's women's football to another level.

Salahuddin had said last week that the national team players had boycotted a training session due to their wages being unpaid. It is undoubtedly a sorry situation for a president to accept as it underlines how he, as a leader, has failed miserably to cash in on the glory that the women have brought to the country.

Former national footballer-turned-coach Golam Sarwar Tipu was not ready to accept BFF's explanation and he came hard on the incumbent officials for wasting the opportunity. 

"It is prime duty for the federation to arrange funds. They should beg if needed. It is not a joke. You got an opportunity to play in the Olympic Qualifiers but alas, the BFF deprived our women's team," said Tipu.

"They should resign if they are not capable of arranging funds for such an important event for our women's team. Now, when we talk about country's football, we actually talk about our women's football," he continued.

Striker Sajeda Khatun also rued the missed opportunity to test themselves against strong opponents like Iran and Myanmar after the SAFF triumph.

"It's very sad that Bangladesh missed an opportunity to play against strong opponents," she opined.

It is worth mentioning here that women's footballers hardly get opportunities to play competitive international matches. Instead, they play mostly in the sub-standard Bangladesh Women's Football League.

Many were surprised by the BFF's reasoning since the federation hosted three international women's age-group tournaments and two FIFA friendlies for the senior men's team on the back of an expensive training camp abroad.

The BFF claimed that they were forced to pull out of the qualifiers after failing to get financial assistance from the Bangladesh Olympic Association and the Youth and Sports ministry.

But interestingly, the announcement came just two days after they outlined their requirements.

"They (BFF) applied for funding on March 27 and we haven't informed them anything officially yet. You know it is not possible to suddenly get government funds because the ministry has to adjust its own fund or ask for funds from the finance ministry," said a ministry official, requesting anonymity.

It was learned that the BFF had sent a letter seeking financial assistance of Tk 92 lakh on March 25 (Saturday). The ministry was closed the day after (Sunday) on the occasion of Independence Day and the announcement that the women's team would pull out came the following Wednesday.

The National Sports Council (NSC) secretary Parimal Singh explained the procedure.

"Federations apply to the sports ministry for additional funds through the NSC, with whom they are affiliated. We usually forward the applications to the ministry after taking approval from the NSC chairman. Then, the ministry processes the letter before seeking permission from the finance ministry. After getting approval from the finance ministry, the sports ministry issues a government order for the fund and it takes a few days," he said, adding that the BFF had applied directly to the ministry, which is also in practice.

The FIFA and the AFC together provide more than US dollar 1.5 million per year to the BFF under the Financial Assistance Programme, while the BFF also gets additional funds from the FIFA and the AFC for the men's and women's national football teams and the local coaching staff.

In addition, Dhaka Bank and Bashundhara Group provide the BFF Tk 2.8 crore per year exclusively as sponsors of women's football.

There have been whispers in the football fraternity that the BFF is trying to capitalise on this issue, attempting to make the government understand its deep financial crisis, in the aftermath of the finance ministry's denial to accept BFF's five-year football development proposal, worth Tk 450 crores.

BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, however, completely denied the notion, saying they were indeed in a financial crisis.

Despite the denial, one may still ask the question: Why has the BFF decided to bring the issue to the public domain at the eleventh hour?