Bangladesh football team begins their preparation for the AFC Women鈥檚 Asian Cup with a Tri-Nation Women鈥檚 football series including Malaysia and Azerbaijan.
The tournament is scheduled to be held at the National Stadium in Dhaka from November 26 to December 2 with the inclusion of Malaysia and Azerbaijan, as Bangladesh coach Peter Butler announced the squad for the competition on Monday.
The series will begin with the hosts Bangladesh taking on Malaysia on Wednesday.
Malaysia and Azerbaijan will face off against each other in the next game on November 29 before Bangladesh take on Azerbaijan on December 2.听 All three games are scheduled to kick off at 7:00pm.
Bangladesh (104) have invited upper-ranked Azerbaijan (74) and Malaysia (92) to the tournament to taste their strengths ahead of their Women鈥檚 Asian Cup in Australia next year, where they will have to compete against much stronger opponents.
In their maiden appearance in the Asian Cup, Bangladesh will face nine-time champions China and three-time champions North Korea alongside Uzbekistan in their Group B matches scheduled to be held from March 1 to 21 Down Under.
Butler鈥檚 charges earlier toured Thailand to play friendlies in late October and conceded defeats to hosts by 3-0 and 5-1.
Bangladesh players will take part in the seventh Women鈥檚 Football League, starting on December 15.
The women鈥檚 league will allow the two foreign players in each participating club during the transfer window later this month.
听鈥業t鈥檚 a learning curve, especially for these young girls鈥� I think this little tournament, like tri nations are a really good,鈥� said Butler by appreciating BFF鈥檚 initiative of organising the series during a press conference at the BFF House.
鈥業 do honestly believe, it鈥檚 a great learning experience when you鈥檙e going to come up against good teams, good players.鈥�
Butler lost his cool during the press conference when he was asked about not calling up veteran forward Sabina Khatun.
鈥楴o, to answer your question, no.听 And, I鈥檓 fed up of asking that question. So, please don鈥檛 ask it again,鈥� Butler replied to the query.
However, Butler never called Sabina, Krishna Rani Sarkar, Sanjida Khatun, Sumaya Matsushima and Masura Parvin, who once demanded his resignation along with 13 others players in January 2025, after the SAFF Women鈥檚 Championship 2024.听听听听
听
Squad
Goalkeepers:听 Rupna Chakma, Mile Akter, Swarna Rani Mandal; Defenders: Nabiran Khatun, Afeida Khandakar (captain), Kohati Kisku, Shamsunnahar (sr), Halima Akther, Joynob Bibi Rita, Sheuli Azim, Midfielders: Mamoni Chakma, Maria Manda, Monika Chakma, Munki Akhter, Sapna Rani,听 Umehla Marma, Shaheda Akter Ripa; Forwards: Mst Sultana, Sagorika, Tohura Khatun, Shamsunnahar (jr), Ritu Porna Chakma, Sinha Jahan Shikha,
Standby: Ruma Akter, Tonima Biswash.
