Bangladesh take on Nepal today in Thimphu in the SAFF U-17 Women’s Championship, as the second and final phase of the regional tournament gets underway. However, the build-up to the match was overshadowed by an unexpected disruption after the official YouTube channel of the tournament’s streaming partner, Sportzworkz, was hacked.
The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) confirmed the incident in an official statement, raising concerns over whether the match, scheduled to kick off at 3:00pm Bangladesh time, would be broadcast live.
“We regret to inform you that our streaming partner Sportzworkz’s official YouTube channel has been hacked and is currently unavailable,” read the statement issued earlier in the day.
The timing of the hack, during a key stage of the competition, was particularly unfortunate, with fans across South Asia eagerly awaiting live coverage. SAFF assured supporters that it was working closely with Sportzworkz to resolve the issue and restore the broadcast as quickly as possible.
“This unfortunate incident has occurred at a critical time during the SAFF U-17 Women’s Championship,” the statement continued. “Fans across South Asia are eagerly awaiting updates from the match. SAFF and Sportzworkz are working swiftly to resolve the issue and ensure live coverage of the games.”
The disruption initially cast doubt over the availability of live coverage for today’s match. However, by midday, SAFF confirmed that alternative arrangements had been made and the match would be streamed via their official YouTube channel.
In the tournament standings, India currently lead with nine points from three matches, followed by Bangladesh with six points from the same number of games.