Bangladesh’s U-20 football team landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday evening, after defeating arch-rivals India 4-3 on penalties in the SAFF Under-20 Championship final in Male, Maldives. The green bus, decorated with images of the champions, pulled up to the airport at 8:00 pm, ready to carry the heroes through a city that had been waiting all week to celebrate them.
Youth and Sports State Minister Aminul Haque was among those waiting at the airport alongside senior Bangladesh Football Federation officials, greeting the players with floral garlands and warm applause. At 8:12 pm, captain Mithu Chowdhury emerged through the VIP gate holding the trophy aloft, and the crowd erupted. Somewhere in the throng, Ronan Sullivan could be seen capturing the moment on his phone. “We did this for the supporters,” he said briefly, which about summed it up.
Coach Mark Cox, reflecting on returning to Dhaka with an unbeaten record and a championship, kept it equally short. “This is something special.”
Aminul Haque joined the squad for a photo session at the VIP gate. He noted that several members of the squad are ready to step up to the senior national side, and confirmed that a formal ceremony to honour the players and announce their awards would be held on 6 April.
Friday’s final at the Maldives National Stadium had been a tense, absorbing affair. Neither Bangladesh nor India could find a breakthrough across ninety minutes, leaving the championship to be settled from the spot.
Bangladesh goalkeeper Ismail Hossain Mahin set the tone immediately, diving to his right to deny India’s Rishi Singh with the very first penalty of the shootout. India never fully recovered from that early blow. When Bangladesh’s Samuel Raksam missed his attempt, nerves crept back in, but India’s Omang Dodum blazed his effort over the crossbar to level the tension. That miss left the door open, and Ronan Sullivan stepped up as the fifth and final kicker and chipped a composed Panenka straight down the middle, sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to seal a 4-3 shootout victory and Bangladesh’s second-ever SAFF Under-20 Championship title.
At around 8:30 pm, the squad departed the airport aboard the open-top bus toward the Hatirjheel Amphitheatre. On the bus, the players were dancing and singing, waving red and green flags, and celebrating with an abandon that felt entirely earned. Hundreds of supporters had lined the main roads of Dhaka to catch a glimpse of the champions, waving flags and chanting victory slogans as the bus rolled through.
This was the first time an open-top bus reception had been organised for a boys’ team in Bangladesh. Previously, similar welcomes had been held for the women’s squads following their back-to-back SAFF Championship triumphs. Last July, the women’s team were received at the airport after returning from Myanmar having secured qualification for the Asian Cup final stage. In January, the SAFF Women’s Futsal Championship-winning squad were brought from the airport to Hatirjheel by open-top bus after their triumph in Thailand.
