Born in the hill town of Rangamati, Jaya Chakma always knew football was where her heart belonged. Even when society whispered that sports were “not for girls,” she stood her ground, lacing up her boots and wearing the red-and-green jersey of Bangladesh’s national women’s team.
But Jaya didn’t stop playing. Her passion stretched beyond the field. She wanted to lead, to teach, to officiate. By 2010, she had earned her FIFA Class-III coaching badge, followed by Class-II in 2013, while also beginning to referee domestic matches. While her peers at Jahangirnagar University prepared for civil-service exams, Jaya was studying the laws of sports.
Her rise, however, was anything but smooth. The FIFA referee exam was a formidable hurdle. She endured repeated setbacks, passing the gruelling fitness tests but falling short on other fronts. After years of persistence, December 2019 brought a breakthrough: Jaya became Bangladesh’s first FIFA-accredited female referee.
Three years later, in June 2022, she made history again, officiating both legs of the Bangladesh-Malaysia women’s international friendly, all while coaching at BKSP and pursuing her master’s in physical education.
The journey tested her again in 2023, when she narrowly missed earning the Asian Football Confederation’s Elite Assistant Referee badge in Malaysia, even as her colleague Salma Akter succeeded. For some, that would have been the end. But Jaya returned fitter, sharper and more determined than ever.
Recognition soon followed. In November 2024, she received the Special Jury Award at the Kamla Bhasin Awards for ‘Driving Gender Equality’. She reminded the world that being a woman never stopped her from showing a red card to men.
Less than a year later, in July 2025, her name appeared again. This time, on the official fixtures list of the SAFF U-20 Women’s Championship at Bashundhara Kings Arena. She took charge of Sri Lanka vs. Bhutan, then Nepal vs. Sri Lanka, proving that she was already an elite official ready for the region’s toughest matches.
Today, Jaya remains a coach, mentor and referee, shaping pathways for girls who once couldn’t believe. Her dream of one day officiating a Brazil-Argentina match may still wait, but for countless young girls, the sound of her whistle signals something far greater: that no dream is off-limits.
