It is allowance, not salary: Salahuddin
A week after the women's football team's SAFF Championship triumph, Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) wants to have a reality check before dreaming high for the team in coming days.
While the victorious team is still being showered with praises and getting promises of cash rewards from different quarters, the BFF, the custodian of women footballers, is coming under severe criticism for the 'low salary of the players' and no announcement of bonus.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin is apparently irritated with the criticism which he sees as a lack of information and not reflecting the real picture of the growth and the struggle the BFF over the last five to six years.
"I know Tk 10,000 is nothing at the moment and everyone is asking to give them Tk 40,000 to Tk 50,000. But where will I get the money from? We don't have sponsors and no individual is giving us money for women's football," the BFF president said. "Many are criticising us that we are providing only Tk 10,000 salary to each girl but I want to tell them that it is not salary; it is allowance from which they keep some portion with themselves and send the rest to their families."
Many are criticising us that we are providing only Tk 10,000 salary to each girl but I want to tell them that it is not salary; it is allowance from which they keep some portion with themselves and send the rest to their families.
Salahuddin also said, "Apart from that allowance, we have been bearing expenditure for food, sports gears, education, treatment, accommodation and many others things in the training camp which cost us Tk 1-1.25 crore per year."
The BFF boss also claimed that they have been spending crores of taka in organising domestic competitions for women footballers and their international engagements apart from the expenditure for the coaching and supporting staff.
Some 70 women's footballers from age-groups to senior level are currently at the BFF dormitory and out of them, 34 players are receiving a total of approximately Tk 3 lakh per month -- ranging from Tk 4000 to 20,000 for each player. BFF, on the other hand, is receiving a total of Tk 3 crore from the Dhaka Bank and the UNICEF annually apart from a small portion from the FIFA.
"I have been doing this for the last five to six years. The 3-0 win over India hasn't come on the back of only 15 days of training. Except for the members of the senior team, there are also 30 girls in the squad. If we groom them for next four to five years, the budding players will come to the stage the senior players are now but you need money for that," said Salahuddin, urging corporate houses to come forward and sponsor women's football teams for better results in future.
"I told the girls that they are now in danger zone. I told them to take new preparation because the championship is over and staying on top by becoming champions again is the main challenge for them now," Salahuddin said. "If we want to see women's team at the Asian level, we need to invest more in women's teams because they need to play 10 to 15 international matches per year and they need to compete against stronger teams."
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