Bangladesh girls finally awarded SAFF U-19 trophy, medals

Bangladesh women's team, which was declared joint champions with India after a marathon, dramatic, and much talked-about final in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) U-19 Women's Championship 2024 in Dhaka city on February 8, got the champions trophy and individual medals after about ten days on the BFF premises on Sunday afternoon.

Only 13 players of the Bangladesh team were present on the occasion, as most of the remaining players were busy preparing for their SSC exam. 

Meritorious forward Sagorika, who guided the Bangladesh team to clinch the title, was adjudged the most valuable player and also finished as the highest scorer of the tournament.

She scored twice against Bangladesh's 4-1 goal victory against Nepal, netted the match-winner against India in the league match, and also scored the match equaliser against India in the dying moment of the final in the stipulated time.

SAFF Secretary General Anwarul Haque Helal handed over the trophy to the Bangladesh team. AFC and BFF member Mahfuza Ahkter Kiron, who is also chairperson of the BFF Women's Football Committee, among others, was also present at the function.

Earlier on February 8, Bangladesh and India were declared the joint champions as the final match between them ended in a 1-1 draw in the scheduled 90 minutes and was again locked at 11-11 goals in the sudden death session of the tiebreaker at the Shaheed Bir Shreshtha Shipahi Mustafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur.

After the 11-11 tie in the penalty shootout, a spur-of-the-moment decision by Sri Lankan Match Commissioner D Silva Jayasooriya Dilan disrupted the momentum of the match.

The official chose to decide the champions by toss.

As per the rules, such a decision was never to be made through a method like a coin toss. 

But, the Lankan carried the decision and directed the match referee to conduct the toss, and India was announced the champion after the team won the coin flip.

Bangladesh began objecting to the toss at the same moment as India won and began to celebrate.  Later, it was discovered that the coin toss method was never to be used to break the tie in deciding the champion.

Realising his mistake, the match commissioner later requested all to resume the shootout after cancelling the toss and the result.

But the Indian women refused to continue to play and left the ground immediately, while Bangladesh stayed on the ground.

Following the refusal to play, the Indian team was given 30 minutes to return to play. But India did not return, even after two and a half hours.

Later, the match commission and the SAFF official decided to declare both of them joint champions.