Bangladesh will begin their title defence of the SAFF U-17 Women鈥檚 Championship 2025 as they face hosts Bhutan at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu today.
The match is scheduled to kick-off at 6:00pm.
Holders and two-time champions, Bangladesh left for Bhutan on August 15 to take part in the double-leg format four-team competition following a one-and-a-half-month training.
Bangladesh coach Mahbubur Rahaman Litu hoped that his team, which is a mixture of youth and experience, would play attacking football and retain the title.
聽鈥榃e have nine new players and the other from the U-16 team, who previously played SAFF in Nepal in 2024鈥� We will play attacking football. Hope, the girls will not disappoint us, and we will play match by match to attain our goal,鈥� said Litu in the pre-tournament press conference at the match venue on Tuesday.
鈥楾here is enough scope for learning and developing through U-15 to U-17 competitions. I think it鈥檚 our learning curve, and the girls will learn many things from this tournament.鈥�
Bangladesh captain Aripta Biswas said, 鈥榃e have been working hard for this tournament. We will play match by match and improve ourselves...Our seniors have been doing well, so we want to follow in their footsteps.鈥�
In their next game, Bangladesh will play the two-time champions India on August 22 before facing 2022 champions Nepal on August 24 and 27. They will play Bhutan and India again in the other matches on August 29 and 31, respectively.
