Bangladesh says no

Even though Bangladesh's women's teams have recently been doing well both at junior and senior level in international tournaments, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has surprisingly decided not to send the women's national team to the AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers, which will get underway in Amman on April 3.

The draw for the competition will be held today with 21 participating nations, split into four groups, vying for four spots of the eight-team final round.  The top three highest-ranked women's teams – Japan, Australia and China – and hosts Jordan will directly join the eight teams in the final round to be held in 2018.

Though all the Asian teams are eligible to participate in this competition, the BFF did not send an entry, letting go of opportunity to see where the team stands at Asian level.

“Our senior team is not in that shape. We will only participate in the Asian Cup Qualifiers once we have a proper squad and proper training. Most of our national team players are 16-year-olds. After two years, they will be fit for the national team,” BFF president Kazi Salahuddin said while explaining reasons behind not sending an entry.

Asked whether the Asian Cup Qualifiers could have been a preparatory stage for the girls who have been training for September's AFC U-16 Women's Championship, the BFF boss said, “The girls will play practice matches in Japan. Besides, I don't want to give extra load on them who can't take much pressure in training at the moment.”

Though there is a whisper that the game's governing body has pulled back from taking part in the qualifiers due to financial constraints, Salahuddin said, “It is rubbish. There is no financial problem.”

The Bangladesh team, which comprises mostly of under-16 players, became runners-up in the SAFF Women's Championship and qualified for finals of the AFC U-16 Women's Championship as group champions. 

Though Bangladesh team has historically taken part in regional competitions, they had once taken part in the Olympics Qualifiers in 2011 where they lost to India and Uzbekistan by identical 0-3 margins.