Sabina & co to get increments

Bangladesh Football Federation has assured Bangladesh women’s team skipper Sabina Khatun that their salaries would be increased after their glorious SAFF Women’s Championship 2022 campaign.

The women in red and green beat Nepal 2-1 in the final as they were crowned Champions. They returned to Dhaka on Wednesday and were felicitated grandly as they went on a citywide parade on an open-deck bus. Such an event was unforeseen in the country’s football, but the girls’ historic triumph made it possible.

After that, questions were raised regarding their salaries as according to BFF’s salary structure in 2018, the highest-paid players received a monthly salary of Tk 10,000. Players in categories B and C received Tk 8,000 and Tk 6,000 respectively. Later, the stipend for each category was increased by Tk 2,000.

Following their grand reception, BFF President Kazi Salahuddin felicitated the team personally on Thursday morning, and Bangladesh skipper Sabina said she was promised a respectable salary.

“We talked with the BFF President today. We told him about our needs and expectations. He has promised us to fulfil those. We have asked to increase our salaries and he has accepted. He assured us of an increment,” she said in a press conference at the BFF office in Dhaka on Thursday.

Sabina did not disclose an exact figure, “I cannot tell you the numbers yet. But we have been told that it will be taken to a respectable level.”

National team head coach Golam Rabbani Choton said the coaching staff were promised an increment too.

The female footballers are the only ones to receive a salary from BFF as the none of the male players do. Sabina felt lucky as they were some of the handful female players receiving a regular salary.

“No female players outside cricket and football receive monthly salaries in Bangladesh. We feel lucky from that viewpoint,” she said.