The protest continued on Saturday against Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin and its women’s wing chairperson Mahfuza Akter Kiron to resign from their posts.
A group of 20-25 woman footballers, led by former badminton star Kamrun Nahar Dana, also a leading figure in the country's women's football in its early days, gathered at BFF House, chanting a slogan and a single-point demand for the resignation of the duo.
The former footballers and organisers have been demanding the resignation of Salahuddin for a long time.
Their demand became stronger soon after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in the face of vigorous protests from the students-people on August 5.
Salahuddin has already made it clear that he will not resign from his post and will be the candidate in the next BFF election.
In such a situation, the women footballers gathered at BFF House to know their demand.
‘The football federation now seems to belong to Salahuddin and Kiron. He [Salahuddin] has never acted without self-interest. The BFF has been politicised, and corruption is rampant. Those who were elected as councillors are now in hiding,’ said Dana during the protest, organised under the banner of ‘Bangladesh women's football players and officials.’
‘They have no place in our sports. We demand change for the greater good of football and hope that the BFF will be completely reorganised.’
Former Bangladesh women’s football team captain Dalia Akter alleged that the BFF dormitory of the women footballers was like a prison.
‘The third floor of the BFF building, where our girls are kept, is like a prison. They [players] are not allowed to speak, and no one knows what they are eating. One day, these girls will step out of that building and reveal the truth,’ said Dalia.
Dalia, who served both the Bangladesh women’s football team and handball team in 2008 as captain, voiced her concern over the wellbeing of women footballers, who stay on the third floor of the federation house and train round the year.
‘These girls are very young and are too scared to speak up. One girl simply questioned why they were repeatedly being served pangasius fish, and she was punished for it,' she said, questioning the repeated appointment of Amirul Islam Babu as the women's team's manager.
Earlier, last week, a fan group of BFF, namely, Bangladeshi Football Ultras, organised a programme—March, also gathered at the BFF headquarters, demanding the immediate resignation of Salahuddin and Kiron.