The Bangladesh national women’s football team departed Dhaka on Tuesday morning for Bangkok, where they will play two international friendly matches against Thailand as part of their preparations for next year’s AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Australia.
The squad left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 11:15 am aboard a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight. The fixtures, scheduled for 24 and 27 October, are seen as an important step in the team’s development under head coach Peter Butler.
Speaking at a press conference at the BFF House on Monday, Butler stressed that the focus is on performance and growth rather than results. “You can’t go there with a win-at-all-cost mentality,” he said. “You have to be realistic and put things in context of what you want from that game.”
Thailand are currently ranked 51 places above Bangladesh, offering a challenging yet realistic test. Despite their higher ranking, Thailand have not qualified for the upcoming Asian Cup, which adds further competitive balance to the encounters.
Bangladesh’s preparations began three weeks ago at KEPZ in Chittagong before the squad returned to Dhaka last Friday. Nine players who had been competing in Bhutan’s domestic league joined the camp upon their return.
“We covered a lot of ground and built strong team spirit,” Butler said. He added that care was taken not to overwork players during the intense camp. “What I want is a competitive performance. I want to see players performing at the international level, especially the nine girls from Bhutan.”
Looking to the future, Butler reiterated his ambition to arrange more demanding fixtures for his team. “Club sides in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong are not strong enough,” he said. “We want international fixtures against teams like Azerbaijan or Iran, and ideally, state teams in Australia to give our players the step-up they need.”
