For the first time in history, the Bangladesh women’s national football team is preparing to face a European side at the senior level. As part of their preparations for the upcoming AFC Women’s Asia Cup in Australia next March, Bangladesh is hosting a tri-nation series in Dhaka. The biggest challenge of the tournament arrives tomorrow at 7 PM, when they take on Azerbaijan at the National Stadium.
Bangladesh’s age-level teams have previously faced European sides—most notably the U-17 women’s team against Russia in the SAFF U-17 Championship—but the senior team has never had such an opportunity. This makes tomorrow’s match a landmark moment for women’s football in the country.
However, one crucial element was missing: access to media. Despite the match’s significance, journalists were not allowed to speak with the head coach or any players on the day before the game.
A full media briefing was not arranged, nor were updates on training made available in time.
“Media usually gets 15 minutes of access before any international match, but this time we received nothing,” noted one frustrated reporter.
Although Bangladesh trained early from 6–7 AM, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) officially declared the session closed only around noon. Photos from the practice were released later at night, leaving many reporters disappointed. Ironically, BFF often appeals for media cooperation but fails to reciprocate during important events.
Azerbaijan Opens Doors to Media; Praises Bangladesh
While Bangladesh restricted media interactions, Azerbaijan welcomed the press warmly, holding a scheduled media session ahead of the match. Their head coach expressed gratitude toward the journalists for attending.
“Thank you for being here—we appreciate your presence very much,” the Azerbaijan coach said while opening the briefing.
He praised Bangladesh’s performance in their recent match against Malaysia, suggesting the team deserved more:
“From what I saw in the Malaysia vs Bangladesh match, Bangladesh actually had greater potential.
If they had converted their chances, the result could have been very different,” he stated.
Discussing tomorrow’s contest, he highlighted Bangladesh’s speed and attacking strength:
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏“𝑾𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉𝒔. 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔.”𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑩𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒉, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒂 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍.”
Bangladesh lost their opening match of the tri-nation series 0–1 to Malaysia, while Malaysia later suffered a heavier defeat at the hands of Azerbaijan. Tomorrow’s match will be Bangladesh’s final opportunity to make a mark in the tournament.
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