Six months have passed and Sabina Khatunra has returned to Dhaka after winning the SAFF Championship title. Then they sat with folded hands. The footballers of the national women's team could not play any international matches.
Advertisement
The Olympic Games qualifiers were scheduled to be held in Myanmar in April. That too was canceled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BAFFE) as there was no money.
According to football stakeholders, Buff has created an artificial crisis to implement their financial plan presented to the government. The question is, where did Bafuf's money go?
After winning Saaf, various institutions of the country felicitated the girls. One of the top media of the country has given one crore rupees to BAFUF fund for the development of women's football team.
In the financial year 2019-20, the Ministry of Youth and Sports specially allocated Tk 20 crore to the Bangladesh Football Federation. There is no account of that money. Although Bafuf does not have a marketing committee, it does have a marketing department. There are some executives. They can't bring sponsors to the buffet. Which means female footballers.
Those across the South Asian border who are supposed to compete at the Asian level are out for more than six months. Female footballers are a bit angry about this. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel MP is angry that the National Sports Council (NSC) is responsible for not sending the girls to Myanmar by creating an artificial financial crisis. In his words,
"Just four days ago, a letter was sent to the Sports Council from Bafue to go to Myanmar. What will NSC do in these days? Every year we write to each sports federation asking for their annual budget. In terms of which the discount is given. Why didn't Bafuf talk about this visit to Myanmar?'
167.447 SRY