Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) accorded a reception to the Bangladesh Under-16 Women’s Football team here on Monday for clinching the Group-C title of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifiers 2017 with an all-win record.
With this rare feat, Bangladesh for the first time reached the eight-team final round of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship to be held in Thailand from September 9 to 23 next year along with Asian giants North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Laos.
At the reception held at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, all the 23 players and three coaches of the Bangladesh U-16 Women’s Football team were given Tk 1.5 lakh each, equally borne by three sponsoring organisations — Saif Global Sports, Gemcon Group and Caldwell Group.
The players received the prize money along with their respective parents who were also invited to the function.
Chairman of Saif Global Sports Tarafder Mohammad Rurul Amin, Director of the Gemcon Group Kazi Enam Ahmed and Managing Director of Caldwell Group Khairul Majid Mahmud handed over the prize money to the team players, Head Coach Golam Rabbani Choton, assistant coaches Mahbubur Rahman Litu and Mahmuda Akhter at the function.
BFF President Kazi Mohammad Salahuddin, BOA Secretary General Syed Shahed Reza, BCB Director cum former National Cricket Team Captain Naimur Rahman Durjoy, MP, BFF vice presidents Kazi Nabil Ahmed, MP, Badal Roy, Mohiuddin Mahi, Tabith Awal, BFF women’s wing chairman Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag and top officials of BFF, DFA, sponsoring organisations, sports organisers and sportsmen were present at the function.
Addressing the function, the BFF President congratulated the players for their achievement saying, “It’s time to take preparation to make the nation proud.”
BFF women’s wing chairman Mahfuza Akhter Kiron expressed her firm resolution that her girls will qualify for the World Cup if they get continuous support.
Earlier, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) made an announcement to provide Tk 1 lakh each to the players of the Bangladesh U-16 Women’s Football team for their feat. Walton Group will also award Tk 5 lakh to the team at a reception at the BFF office on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, BFF has announced a year-long intensive training programme with a view to doing well in the final round of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship 2017.
The training camp, which began on Saturday (Sept 17), will continue until the players leave for Thailand in September 2017 under the supervision of Head Coach Golam Rabbani Choton at three city venues — BFF Artificial Turf, Kamalapur Stadium and Abahani Club Ground in Dhanmondi.
A total of 23 players, who played for Bangladesh in the Group C matches of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Qualifiers 2017 at home, are now in the training camp initially with an option to include five more players in future.
During the year-long training programme, the BFF has a plan to pay monthly allowances, provide sports kits, regular clothing, teachers for English, Math, Bangla and other subjects for the study of the women’s players.
BFF also aimed to arrange minimum 5-6 friendly matches in Japan, China and Korea Republic for the young side ahead of the AFC U-16 Women’s Championship.
