Rebel women footballers join training session

After much drama, the crisis in the country's women’s football has come to an end. On Tuesday (April 8), the rebellious female footballers joined the training session under English coach Peter Butler. In the morning, Butler took the team to the Abahani Club ground in Dhanmondi for practice. Of the 18 rebellious female footballers, 13 joined the practice under his supervision. The remaining five players, including captain Sabina Khatun, have gone to play in Bhutan's league. They will return to practice after the league. Tahura Khatun could not join the camp due to her sister’s illness.

After much back-and-forth, including complaints and counterclaims, the conflict between the coach and players has been resolved. However, before joining the practice, coach Butler held a meeting with the 13 rebel players, including Krishna Rani and Sanjida, on April 7 at the BFF building. Coach Butler agreed to train the rebellious female players, stating that he did not want the crisis in women's football to prolong any further. The players also promised to continue training and put aside their differences.

On February 16, the head of the BFF Women’s Wing, Mahfuza Akhter Kiran, had said that the female footballers had agreed to return to training under Coach Butler, marking the end of the rebellion.

After spending the Eid holidays, Butler returned to Dhaka from England on April 6. The previous day, BFF President Tabith Awal had a meeting with Sabina and her teammates. Following that, five players went to Bhutan. Apart from Tahura, Shiuuli Azim, Mosammat Sagarika, Rupna Chakma, Shamsunnahar Junior, Sanjida Akhter, Nilufa Yasmin, Masura Parveen, Maria Manda, Shamsunnahar Senior, Krishna Rani, Swarna Rani Mondal, Sathi Biswas, and Nasrin Akhter have returned to training.

In October last year, during the Women’s SAFF Championship, the conflict between Coach Butler and the players became public. Later, in January, when the BFF extended the English coach’s contract for another two years, the female footballers rebelled. They boycotted training and threatened mass resignation unless Butler was removed. This created a standstill in the country’s women’s football scene. In this situation, Bangladesh played a series of two friendly matches against the United Arab Emirates without the 18 rebellious players, losing both matches. With the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers coming up, Coach Butler has been busy training the national team. The national women’s football camp began on April 6. However, players Kohati Kisku, Swopna Rani, Munki Akhter, Zaynab Bibi, and Arpita Biswas have not joined the camp yet due to personal reasons.