The year of South Asian Queens

After waiting 19 years for another SAFF crown following their first, Bangladesh finally could claim themselves as the Champions of South Asia as the Women’s team brought home the crown to mark a very special year.

Bangladesh beat hosts Nepal in the final 3-1 to ensure that they were the Queens of South Asia, and upon return, they celebrated the championship with an open-deck trophy parade, an unforeseen event in the history of Bangladesh.

But on the flip side, the Men’s team had a disappointing run yet again as they won only one of out of their eight matches this year, losing five.

The Queens’ coronation

Sabina Khatun & co, under the coaching of Golam Rabbani Choton, smashed their way towards the title as they scored 12 goals in the group stage to top their group, beating Maldives and India 3-0, with a 6-0 drubbing of Pakistan in the middle.

In the semi-final, they completely obliterated Bhutan 8-0 to reach the final, and in the final, hosts Nepal managed to net the ball in the Bangladesh net for the first time, but two goals before that and one after meant that the trophy was lifted by skipper Sabina.

Sabina had a brilliant tournament herself, winning the player of the tournament and being the highest goal scorer in the tournament with eight goals.

For the return of South Asia’s queens, the Bangladesh Football Federation arranged a trophy parade for them, the first-ever in Bangladesh football history.

The players and staff climbed on an open-deck bus, which travelled from the Hazrat Shah Jalal International Airport to the BFF offices. They were greeted by people with flowers, and fans flocked by their side throughout the journey.

The continuing frustrations

While the girls got it done, the boys continued on producing blunders. The Men’s team got their permanent coach in January when BFF roped in Spaniard Javier Cabrera after they were under the interim management of Oscar Bruzon and Mario Lemos following the departure of Jamie Day.

But a change in personnel did not result in anything on the field. They started the year with a 2-0 defeat to Maldives in March, before producing a toothless goalless draw against Mongolia on home soil.

They produced a similar result against Indonesia, something that was considered to be a changing of tides as it was against a superior opponent, but nothing changed.

In the Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers, the red and greens lost all three matches as they were defeated 2-0, 2-1, and 4-1 by Bahrain, Turkmenistan, and Malaysia.

Then, Bangladesh found a 1-0 victory over Cambodia, their very first under Cabrera, but a 3-1 defeat to Nepal in their final match of the year meant the year ended with disappointment.