SAFF Women's Champions finally take the money BCB awarded them six months ago

In September last year, the Bangladesh National Women's Football Team made history at the Dasharath Rangshala Stadium in Kathmandu. The women in red and green defeated Nepal 3-1 to win the SAFF Championship title for the first time. The success of the girls caused a wave of celebration across the country. They were given a royal welcome in an open-top bus, with several organisations announcing awards. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) also joined in. The next day, BCB announced a prize of Tk50 lakh.

In October, the BCB issued separate cheques in the names of the members of the women's football team. But due to the complexity of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) activities, BCB could not deliver the check to the winners. After six months, the cricket's governing body of the country issued a cheque for the second time and awarded the members of the victorious women's team. The cheque was handed over to the BCB office on Thursday. Tk50 lakhs were announced but BCB gave 51 lakhs, increasing it by one lakh to adjust to inflation.

On the third day of the ongoing Bangladesh-Ireland Test in Mirpur, the coach of the women's team Golam Rabbani Choton, captain Sabina Khatun and three footballers came to the BCB office. Jalal Yunus, chairman of BCB's cricket management department, handed over the cheque to them in the afternoon at the BCB board room. Iftekhar Ahmed Mithu, the chairman of the umpires committee, and Nizamuddin Chowdhury, the chief executive of BCB, were present at that time.

Explaining the reason behind the delay in handing over the cheque, Jalal Yunus said, "The cheque was issued last October." Six months have passed. We re-issued the check and handed it over to them. There was a communication gap between them. We wanted to give it last year. They were busy too. We have also communicated several times. They could not make time, we also could not hand over the cheque."

In other news, BFF could not send the Bangladesh women's team to Myanmar to participate in the Asian phase of the Paris Olympic qualifiers. When this discussion happened, the issue of announcing the BCB awarded money came up again. It is understood that this happened due to BFF's negligence and BCB could not hand over the cash prize to the winners despite trying.

However, a few days ago BAFF president Kazi Salahuddin said that he did not know about the announcement of BCB's award. He said, "After the girls became the champion, Manik (BAFF Vice President Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan Manik) gave money. Salam (BFF senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedi) has a pay order ready. I do not know about BCB paying. I have seen the news on TV though."

BCB President Nazmul Hassan Papon, however, termed the statement of the BFF President as false. When asked about the award of the women's football team on Wednesday, Nazmul Hassan said, "It's a lie (BCB is delaying payment). They didn't take the money. Repeatedly contacted them. Talk to Sujan (Khaled Mahmud, CEO), he can tell you. Jalal Yunus said that the award was delayed due to a lack of communication."