Peter Butler wants progress, not just a trophy, from the SAFF Women’s Under-19 Championship. The Bangladesh head coach sees the tournament as a chance to build for the future rather than focus only on results.
Speaking ahead of the competition, Butler said, “Winning this tournament is not the most important thing for me. Through this competition, I want to identify players for the national team and the AFC Under-20 qualifiers who can perform on bigger stages. What I have been trying to do for nearly two years is to develop Bangladesh football, and this is one of the ways to do that.”
The SAFF Women’s Under-19 Championship will begin on Saturday in Nepal. Bangladesh will play on the opening day of the four-team tournament. Butler’s side will face Bhutan at the Pokhara Rangashala Stadium.
The tournament will be played in a round robin league format. Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan will all play each other once. After three matches each, the teams finishing third and fourth will be knocked out. The top two teams will qualify for the final. The final will be held on 7 February.
Bangladesh will play their second match on 2 February against India. Arpita Biswas will lead the side in that game. Their final league match will be on 4 February against Nepal. All matches will take place at the Pokhara Rangashala Stadium. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are not part of this edition of the tournament.
Bangladesh women’s football has shown strong improvement in recent times. The Under-19 team has played an important role in that rise. Expectations around the squad are slowly increasing. Players such as Arpita, Rita, Yerzan and Arfin are getting close attention from the team management and coaching staff as future options for the senior national team.
In March, Australia will host the AFC Women’s Asian Cup. With that tournament in mind, a senior team camp has started in Dhaka with players like Rituparna Chakma and Afida Khandakar. Butler left that camp to travel to Nepal with the Under-19 side. The decision drew some criticism. Still, it also shows how much importance the coach places on age group football and long term development.
