In a unique move and a massive recognition, Bangladesh national women's football team were yesterday announced as a recipient of the Ekushey Padak 2025, the second-highest civilian honour of the country, alongside 14 other individuals for their contributions in various fields.

Introduced in 1976 in memory of the martyrs of the Bengali Language Movement of 1952, the award is usually given to recognise contributions in a number of fields, including culture, education, journalism, and economics.

However, this is the first time a sporting team will receive the honour. Late Abdul Hamid, a noted sports journalist and sports commentator, was the first and only individual from the sporting arena to have received the honour previously, even though he was awarded in 2003 for his contribution to journalism.

The recognition of the women's football team, who last year successfully defended their SAFF Women's Championship title, comes at a time when women's football is facing obstacles from various reactionary elements of society.

Recently, at least three women's football matches were halted in three northern districts of the country, the latest of which occurred in Rangpur yesterday.
Mostafa Sarwar Farooki, the adviser to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, who himself shared the news through his social media accounts, termed this decision as a recognition of the women's team's success as a "massive cultural phenomenon."

"Bestowing the women's football team with the Ekushey Padak is important from two perspectives," Farooki, also a noted filmmaker, told The Daily Star.

"The first is their sporting achievement, which is beautiful. But we don't consider this progress and the amazing rise of the women's football team as just a sporting phenomenon; we also see it as a cultural phenomenon, and we believe it has a huge positive cultural impact on Bangladesh and Bangladesh's progress," the adviser added.

Bangladesh Football Federation's women's wing chairman, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, who oversaw the rise of women's football over the last decade, expressed her delight at the news and her gratitude towards the government.

"I can't express how delighted and happy I am. You all know how difficult and rocky the road to success for women's football in Bangladesh has been. So this is, I believe, a recognition of the hard work and struggle that we all have made this far," Kiron told The Daily Star.

Expressing her gratitude to the government for a timely decision, Kiron, also an executive member of the Asian Football Federation, hoped that this recognition would pave a smooth path for the women's national team and women's football in general.

"Women's football is at a crossroads at the moment as it is facing a lot of obstacles. So this recognition will definitely help women's football overcome those hurdles.

"I hope the award will also motivate the national team players to concentrate on football and have a positive outcome," added the BFF member, referring to the current impasse created by the boycott of the head coach by 18 senior members of the squad.