Bangladesh’s women footballers continue to rewrite history. Just last month, Rituparna and her teammates qualified for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup for the first time. Now, under the leadership of Afida, the Under-20 women’s side have also booked their place in Asia’s top competition.
In the AFC Under-20 Women’s Championship, the eight group winners and the three best runners-up progress to next year’s finals. Bangladesh finished third among the best runners-up to secure qualification.
Going into their final group match on 10 August against South Korea, Bangladesh knew a draw would be enough to win the group. However, despite taking the lead, they suffered a heavy 1–6 defeat. That left them with six points and a goal difference of +5, meaning they had to rely on results from other groups.
In Group E, both China and Lebanon had six points before their final match. A draw there would have put Bangladesh in danger, but China’s big win left Lebanon with six points but a goal difference of –6.
Group B’s fixture between Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam was also crucial for Bangladesh. A Kyrgyzstan win would have created a three-way tie on six points with Vietnam and Hong Kong, with Kyrgyzstan topping the group on head-to-head record. In that case, Vietnam could have been runners-up with a superior goal difference to Bangladesh. But Vietnam’s 3–0 victory meant Hong Kong also ended on six points, but with a –3 goal difference.
Iran, runners-up in Group F, had six points but a negative goal difference, while the runners-up in Groups A and D managed only four points each. This confirmed Bangladesh’s place among the top three second-placed teams.
In Group C, Chinese Taipei sit second with six points and a +7 goal difference. If they lose to Australia by more than two goals, they will slip below Bangladesh on goal difference. In Group G, Uzbekistan and Jordan both have six points, with goal differences of +16 and +11 respectively. Even with a 4–5 goal defeat in their final match, both will still qualify for the finals.