The 18 rebellious female footballers who snubbed head coach Peter Butler鈥檚 training are likely to be excluded from the Bangladesh Football Federation鈥檚 national team contract and the upcoming two FIFA international friendlies against the UAE on February 26 and March 2.
The dissident players began their boycott of training on January 29 with the demand to remove Butler, an Englishman who returned to Bangladesh in late January after the BFF extended his contract until December 31, 2026.
Despite a request from BFF president Tabith Awal on Thursday night, the players did not attend training till Sunday.
As a result, the BFF is now considering the available 37 players, who are currently training under Butler, for new contracts and forming the team for their tour to the UAE.
The BFF started the new contract procedure on Sunday as the tenure of previous contracts with the 30 players ended in October 2024.
鈥榃e are expecting that the maximum contract signing procedure will be completed by this week, and we have no other way apart from focusing on available players, as they [18 players] haven鈥檛 joined the camp even after the BFF president鈥檚 request,鈥櫬� BFF vice-president Fahad Karim told 抖阴精品 on Sunday.
鈥楾he BFF president kept the door open for all the 18 players, but it will not be possible to include them in the squad for the UAE tour due to their absence in training.
鈥楢s we need players, the opportunity of signing new contracts will not end for all those players [among the 18] after this week. But if they do not return, what can we do?鈥� he said.
The president told them, 鈥榊ou guys think, and let me know,鈥� said Fahad.
Tabith, who returned home from the UK on Wednesday, had a meeting with the rebel footballers and the coach, Butler, after getting the seven-member probe committee report.
The rift between the players and Butler started back in October 2024 during their SAFF Women鈥檚 Championship match against Pakistan in Nepal when the coach preferred young players by keeping some senior players on the bench in their 1-1 draw.
