Bangladesh beat India to retain SAFF U-19 Women's Championship title

Bangladeshi golden girls won SAFF U19 Women’s Champion 2021 beating India. The success will inspire Bangladesh football forward. Football, once the most favourite game in Bangladesh, couldn’t retain its popularity after the rising of Cricket fever; placing Bangladesh cricket into the world-class level and lack of proper nurturing of the footballers as well as institutional development of football strategically. 

 I feel nostalgia for sponsoring school football organized by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) with international brand Daewoo during my tenure at Rahimafrooz. This is a part of building awareness of football among young Bangladeshi students. I can recall an incident. On a Thursday afternoon, the legendary footballer Aslam Bhai visited my office to meet me without a prior schedule. I was in a rush but managed to meet him excitedly. He gave me a brief about his plan to organize school football who would contribute to the national level in future. Being highly frustrated not to get any response from corporate houses, he asked for my support for sponsoring school football. It was the reality as people were thrilled with Cricket then; they gave less priority to football. I assured him I would extend my cooperation and inform him shortly about our participation though it was not in my yearlong marketing plan and activity calendar. 

 The next week, I visited the BFF office and met the president Salauddin Bhai and confirmed our sponsorship on Daewoo BFF Football Festival 2010. Senior and retired Footballers agreed to play football matches with school students in 8 strategic locations in Dhaka Metro without taking any honorarium. I was really lucky to get introduced to the great football players of Bangladesh like Babul Bhai, Jony Bhai, Kanon Bhai, Rupu Bhai, Aminul Bhai & so many and worked together cordially. It had been beyond my imagination to come into contact with the heroes in my early life. I was delighted to see their eagerness to play with young players to inspire them about football despite their busy schedules.

It was a magnificent event that steered the students impressively. School students were eagerly played with the great players. They had great learning and experience. The footballers highlighted various aspects of football; shared their memorable incidents; and gave tips of the game to the young students. The students took autographs and pictures proudly of the renowned players.

 We hope that a proper vision and mission will be set and a long term strategic plan will also be taken for Bangladesh football. All responsible authorities including corporate houses will give their focus on football to transform it into the next level.