The Bangladesh women’s football team are caught in a cycle of failure. After losing the SAFF title in India, they suffered heavy defeats in two matches at the Asian Games in japan recently.
About a year and a half ago, Bangladesh had secured their first-ever Asian Cup berth by defeating Myanmar; yet, this time at the Asian Games, they failed to beat same team.
The Junior (U-17) team (U-17) have also failed to deliver. Bangladesh missed the chance to qualify for the main stage of the AFC U-17 tournament after suffering a three-goal defeat against the Philippines.
This setback occurred despite the BFF sending the teams to China for Asian Games preparation and to Jordan for the U-17 tournament. Such poor results following extensive preparations have raised questions regarding the competence of the two Head Coaches, Peter Butler and Saiful Bari Titu.
Bangladesh had traveled to India aiming to secure a hat-trick of SAFF Championship titles. The BFF had sent the team to Thailand for preparation.
Despite this, Peter Butler’s squad lost both the group-stage match and the final against India. The BFF also spared no effort in preparing for the Asian Games, arranging a training camp and practice matches in Guangzhou, China, lasting nearly two weeks.
Yet, despite all these measures, the team conceded 10 goals against North Korea and 6 against South Korea in their opening matches at the Asian Games.
Chairperson of the BFF’s Women’s Wing Mahfuza Akter Kiran, is also dissatisfied with Butler. She said, “I have conveyed my views regarding Butler to the President; the responsibility for making the decision now lies with him.”
BFF President Tabith Awal commented on the matter, said, “Everyone within the football federation is subject to accountability; no one is above it. Everything and everyone will be addressed in due course.”
Former national footballer and Coach Saiful Bari Titu primarily serves as the Technical Director of the BFF. He conducts Coaching courses throughout the year; yet, despite producing so many certified coaches, there was no one else deemed qualified enough to take charge as the head Coach of the U-17 team.
Consequently, the BFF appointed him as the head coach of the junior women’s team. Despite having an experienced Coach and the benefit of preparation matches in Jordan, Bangladesh still failed in Uzbekistan.
The federation had appointed Titu-replacing the proven women’s team Coach Golam Rabbani Choton-in hopes of achieving better results.