Bangladesh national women鈥檚 team players on Thursday threatened to boycott all sorts of footballing activities and leave the national camp if the Bangladesh Football Federation keeps Englishman Peter Butler as their coach.
The development came a day after a group of senior players of the women鈥檚 team refused to join a meeting and train under Butler ahead of their FIFA international friendlies against hosts United Arab Emirates on February 26 and March 2.
Butler guided the women鈥檚 team to back-to-back SAFF Women鈥檚 Championship titles in October last year, despite having a feud with the senior players during the championship in Nepal.
The rift started when the Englishman opted for youth by benching veteran players during Bangladesh鈥檚 match against Pakistan.
But when Bangladesh faced elimination following their 1-1 draw against Pakistan, Butler had to include the senior players in the wake of the tremendous pressure in their next match that they won 3-1 against India.
Butler returned to Bangladesh on Tuesday after the BFF extended the 58-year-old鈥檚 contract for two more years till December 31, 2026.
Since the SAFF win, Bangladesh players enjoyed a long vacation before returning to Dhaka, and some junior players started training under assistant coach Mahbubur Rahman Litu鈥檚 tutelage at the BUET playground on January 15.
On his return to Bangladesh, Butler called the players for a meeting on Wednesday, but the senior players revolted and refused to attend the meeting.
鈥榃e will not join the training under this coach [Butler]. If the BFF doesn鈥檛 listen to us, we will leave the camp with our dignity,鈥� Country鈥檚 veteran forward Sabin Khatun, who captained Bangladesh in both of their SAFF triumphs in 2022 and 2024, told the media at the BFF premises on Thursday.
A media release, signed by 18 players, was also handed to the journalists before Sabina, Sanjida Khatun, Krishna Rani Sarkar, Maria Manda, Masura Parvin, and Ritu Porna Chakma spoke in the press conference.
鈥榃e never said that we won鈥檛 attend training. We said that we won鈥檛 train under this coach [Butler],鈥� said Masura.
鈥榃e informed Kiron apa [BFF women鈥檚 wing chairman Mahfuza Akhter] that we will follow Butler鈥檚 training schedules but train under Litu sir or another coach. And we requested her [Kiron] to tell him [Butler] to take a rest until BFF president [Tabith Awal] returned home from England and speak with us about this issue,鈥� Masura added.