Bangladesh women footballers

The inspiring story of national footballer Rupana Chakma

Bangladesh Women’s Football team, Rupana Chakma hails from the remote village of Bhuiyodam in the secluded Ghilachari hills of Naniarchar upazila, Rangamati. Born as a posthumous child, she did not have the opportunity to see her father, Gatha Moni Chakma. The distraught Kalosona Chakma began her struggles to earn a decent living for her four children. Kalosona would work inhumane hours as a day labourer in agricultural fields to manage two meals a day for the family. Despite the abject poverty, Rupana Chakma nurtured a knack for sports, and playing football has been in her dreams ever since childhood.

Stealing the applause and appreciation

What could be the psyche behind this ugly practice of stealing the limelight despite having no intellectual, technical, moral or effective input in any of the 23 goals that our girls scored in Kathmandu?

Why our women footballers’ victory is so significant

Our national women’s football team’s victory surely gives us all, especially the women, an extraordinary level of confidence.

SAFF champions' treatment shows how we devalue women

To be seen, to simply exist and take up space – on sporting fields, in courts of justice, on buses and in public office – shouldn’t have to be a revolutionary act.

Bangladesh Women’s Football team / Do we really know how to celebrate our champions?

There comes a time, regardless of how rare it might be, when you genuinely feel happy to see others succeed. The existence of such happiness becomes much more apparent when it comes to underdogs achieving something despite everyone’s minuscule expectations for them. Such was the case for the Bangladesh Women's football team winning the SAFF Women Championship 2022 title.

'Felt the breeze of Bengal after many days'

Member of Bangladesh's SAFF Women's Championship-winning team, Krishna Rani Sarkar, was delighted to have returned home on Wednesday after their successful SAFF campaign.

Champions return home

Bangladesh women footballers, who clinched their maiden SAFF Women’s Championship title by beating hosts Nepal in the tournament’s final in Kathmandu last Monday, returned to the country on Wednesday afternoon.

From childhood heartbreak to fulfilling a nation’s dream

On what was a regular afternoon, a little girl growing up in a poverty-stricken background only insisted on playing her favourite game of football. Her mother, though, under continuous pressure from the surrounding community, took a knife and resorted to puncturing her favourite toy, a football in this case, right in front of those innocent, teary eyes.

Bangladesh’s indomitable band of sisters

Before emerging as champions of the just-concluded 2022 SAFF Women's Championship, the women in red and green had played a final once before – during the regional competition's 2016 edition. But as the in-form Sabina Khatun, Sanjida Akhtar, Maria Manda and company prepared to encounter hosts Nepal, the Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton deemed his charges as favourites -- not based on the track records against the four-time champions but on their current form.

October 26, 2022
October 26, 2022

The inspiring story of national footballer Rupana Chakma

Bangladesh Women’s Football team, Rupana Chakma hails from the remote village of Bhuiyodam in the secluded Ghilachari hills of Naniarchar upazila, Rangamati. Born as a posthumous child, she did not have the opportunity to see her father, Gatha Moni Chakma. The distraught Kalosona Chakma began her struggles to earn a decent living for her four children. Kalosona would work inhumane hours as a day labourer in agricultural fields to manage two meals a day for the family. Despite the abject poverty, Rupana Chakma nurtured a knack for sports, and playing football has been in her dreams ever since childhood.

October 3, 2022
October 3, 2022

Stealing the applause and appreciation

What could be the psyche behind this ugly practice of stealing the limelight despite having no intellectual, technical, moral or effective input in any of the 23 goals that our girls scored in Kathmandu?

September 28, 2022
September 28, 2022

Why our women footballers’ victory is so significant

Our national women’s football team’s victory surely gives us all, especially the women, an extraordinary level of confidence.

September 25, 2022
September 25, 2022

SAFF champions' treatment shows how we devalue women

To be seen, to simply exist and take up space – on sporting fields, in courts of justice, on buses and in public office – shouldn’t have to be a revolutionary act.

September 24, 2022
September 24, 2022

Do we really know how to celebrate our champions?

There comes a time, regardless of how rare it might be, when you genuinely feel happy to see others succeed. The existence of such happiness becomes much more apparent when it comes to underdogs achieving something despite everyone’s minuscule expectations for them. Such was the case for the Bangladesh Women's football team winning the SAFF Women Championship 2022 title.

September 21, 2022
September 21, 2022

'Felt the breeze of Bengal after many days'

Member of Bangladesh's SAFF Women's Championship-winning team, Krishna Rani Sarkar, was delighted to have returned home on Wednesday after their successful SAFF campaign.

September 21, 2022
September 21, 2022

Champions return home

Bangladesh women footballers, who clinched their maiden SAFF Women’s Championship title by beating hosts Nepal in the tournament’s final in Kathmandu last Monday, returned to the country on Wednesday afternoon.

September 21, 2022
September 21, 2022

From childhood heartbreak to fulfilling a nation’s dream

On what was a regular afternoon, a little girl growing up in a poverty-stricken background only insisted on playing her favourite game of football. Her mother, though, under continuous pressure from the surrounding community, took a knife and resorted to puncturing her favourite toy, a football in this case, right in front of those innocent, teary eyes.

September 20, 2022
September 20, 2022

Bangladesh’s indomitable band of sisters

Before emerging as champions of the just-concluded 2022 SAFF Women's Championship, the women in red and green had played a final once before – during the regional competition's 2016 edition. But as the in-form Sabina Khatun, Sanjida Akhtar, Maria Manda and company prepared to encounter hosts Nepal, the Bangladesh head coach Golam Rabbani Choton deemed his charges as favourites -- not based on the track records against the four-time champions but on their current form.

September 12, 2022
September 12, 2022

Women booters aim to attack India with caution

Bangladesh will be looking to build on their momentum in the SAFF Women's Championship when the girls in red and green take on five-time champions India in the two sides' third and final match of the group stage at the Dasharath Rangasala stadium in Kathmandu, Nepal at 5:45 pm BST on Tuesday.