The Nepalese women’s football team arrived in Dhaka Wednesday to begin preparations for two upcoming friendly matches against the Bangladesh national team.
On July 13 and 16, both matches are set to take place at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur. The first ball is slated to be kicked off at 5:30 in the evening for both matches.
In September of the previous year, the last match of the SAFF ladies’s Championship was played between Bangladesh and Nepal. Bangladesh won the match 3-1, and it was the last international encounter for the ladies who played in red and green.
Even though the Bangladesh Football Federation has made contact with Cambodia and Singapore on multiple occasions since then, they were unable to organize a match against another international team. The local governing body of the game made the decision earlier this year not to send the squad to Olympic Qualifiers, claiming a shortage of funding as their justification.
As a direct result of the events that transpired, some players have already parted ways with the squad, and the federation’s long-time coach, Golam Rabbani Choton, resigned from his post as coach at the end of the month of May.
It will be a challenge for the 140th–ranked Bangladesh side to compete against the 101st–ranked Himalayan side, as assistant coach Mahbubur Rahman Litu will be directing the team for the first time.
The team will be well-prepared for the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which will take place in September and October of this year. These two matches will serve as good preparation for the team.