What's in store for the champions?

Players of the Bangladesh under-18 women's football team spent a sleepless night on Sunday. No, they were not sleepless from any tension of playing a match the following day; instead they were sleepless from the excitement of just having clinched the title of the inaugural SAFF U-18 Women's Championship at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu. The excitement was very understandable given that most of the players of this team had gone through a heartbreak at the same venue just two months ago.

They were also probably sleepless since they had an early morning flight to catch. They were dying to get back home and tell the tales of triumph to their near and dear ones. These girls have been to many places across Asia over the last four or so years. Coming from the most remote villages of the country, these girls now have access to new things and many new places, including the Prime Minister's Office -- they were there before and will be again this Thursday to attend a reception. However, one thing these girls barely have access to are cellphones. But after the final win, they were handed cellphones for the night so that they could talk to their families. And that excitement kept them awake till late as well.

The fatigue and sleeplessness was visible in their eyes when they touched down in Dhaka yesterday morning, yet the satisfaction of conquering another frontier shone through. The players were greeted with bouquets and sweetmeats at the airport before they headed to the Bangladesh Football Federation headquarters for a full two days of rest to get rid of the fatigue and prepare for their next assignment.

Defender Masura Parvin, who sprung from relative obscurity to become the centre of attention following her winning goal against Nepal on Sunday, said she was 'delighted with having scored her first international goal, which became the 'title-winning goal'.

Another centre-back Akhi Khatun was already well-known since she won the most valuable player award of the SAFF U-15 Girls' Championship in Dhaka last year. She was fast-tracked to the under-18 team like many of her peers and continued her rich vein of form into this tournament. It takes quite a performance from a defender to become the most valuable player, especially when her team concedes only one goal against 24 scored. It was Akhi's assured presence at the back that made things look easy for Bangladesh even when the going got tough.

 “Last time I was the best player when playing at home. This time I became the best player while playing abroad. I feel really delighted with that,” said the tall centre-back.

But they know that their job is not done yet since it is a continuous process and since they are still closer to the beginning mark than the finishing one. Most of the players of the under-18 and under-15 teams have had pretty busy schedules over the past year, and it is not likely to be any different for the next year. They will be playing in the first round of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship Qualifiers in Tajikistan later this month and will be off to a much sterner test in the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers in Myanmar next month.

Midfielder Misrat Jahan Mousumi, who wore the captain's armband in Bhutan, realises the hardest part of becoming a good team at the international level still remains.

“We are trying to improve our own areas every day. But we have much bigger tests ahead. We will have to play against teams like Korea and Japan, so we will have to improve continuously,” she said.

These two assignments will be followed by the most important and most relevant assignment for the girls -- the SAFF Women's Championship, scheduled for December this year. Having won the under-15 championship last year and the under-18 championship on Sunday, the Bangladesh girls will be eyeing that title to stamp their supremacy in the South Asian region. And it will be mostly this group of players plus senior striker Sabina Khatun who will take the challenge to achieve that. But that title is likely to be the hardest one to achieve.

India are an established superpower here, having won all four editions so far. Nepal remains another team that Bangladesh will have to better consistently. The girls in red and green did manage to break into the top two the last time around, but they are yet to be considered a force to be reckoned with at the senior level, for good reason too.

When asked about the Bangladesh's chances in the upcoming SAFF Women's Championship, coach Golam Rabbani Choton could not muster too much optimism in his voice. “We would want to do well in this competition. Even if we don't win it this time, we should aim for the next one in 2020 and keep the current under-18 players under continuous training for at least two more years,” Choton said, adding that 'if the young ones do better than the older ones, why keep holding on to the older players?'.

What the coach was hiding behind was the fact that he does not have the system at his disposal to keep those older players in the game. The reason is that our women's youth development system comes to a dead end after the under-18 level, with no scope for transition into the senior team. There is hardly any platform for the seniors to keep their feet moving -- no club football at home and basically no international engagements. The last competitive matches that the senior women's team played were 20 months ago.

As a result many promising players from age-group have disappeared, either due to social pressure or the lack of playing opportunities.  Players like Suinu Pru Marma, Mainu Pru Marma and Aumra Ching Marma have disappeared from the scene while only Sabina has stuck around simply because of her personal dedication and commitment. Not everyone in this current crop will have the personal resolve or the family backing to stick around for long once the lure of playing around the world fades, and even the insurance of having a source of income from football disappears.

Hence the onus is on the game's local governing body to ensure that successes at the age-group level are translated into those of a proper and successful senior team. And given that part of the blueprint has already been set forth, it should not be difficult for the game's governing body to strategise a plan to achieve that.