Choton leaves camp

Bangladesh under-16 national women's football team coach Golam Rabbani Choton and his assistant Mahbubur Rahman Litu left the ongoing training camp yesterday after a disagreement with Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) technical and strategic director Paul Smalley.

Both coaches, who had guided Bangladesh to the final round of the AFC Under-16 Championship last year, refrained from joining the reception ceremony at the BFF House accorded by Envoy Group yesterday afternoon.

It was learnt that during a meeting on Saturday morning in presence of BFF president Kazi Salahuddin and women's wing officials to discuss the development of the camp, Smalley had criticised Choton's coaching system, which compelled Choton and Litu leaving the meeting and eventually leaving the camp.

“There was some disagreement between Choton and Smalley during the meeting over training,” confirmed a BFF official on condition of anonymity.

“What we have learnt is that Smalley and goalkeeping coach Ryan Sandford have been overseeing training for the last few days and they forced the players to do hard physical training which the players failed to adopt. I think the interference of Smalley could have annoyed Choton and Litu,” the official added.

The official, though, also claimed that the issue has been resolved.

“We talked both coaches and resolved the issue. I hope they will join the camp tomorrow,” he said.

However, a different version came from Mahfuza Akter Kiron, the deputy chairman of BFF's women's wing.

“Both coaches asked me for a vacation today [Saturday] citing personal reasons which is why they didn't join the reception ceremony,” Kiron said. “What you have heard is absolutely false and rumour.”

Neither Choton nor Litu could be reached, despite repeated attempts, for a comment on the issue.