Nepal has been named as the hosts for the 7th SAFF Women鈥檚 Championship 2024 ahead of Bangladesh and Bhutan during a SAFF committee meeting held at its headquarters in Dhaka on Monday.
The seven-nation regional tournament is scheduled to be held at the Dashrath Stadium in Kathmandu from October 17 to 30.
This will be for the third consecutive time that the Himalayan nation have earned the hosting rights of this competition after 2019 and 2022, while Bangladesh (2010), Sri Lanka (2012), Pakistan (2014), and India (2016) have hosted the tournament once each.聽
鈥楥onsidering everything, including accommodation, travel availability, and visa requirements, Nepal appeared more qualified. So we choose Nepal,鈥� SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal informed the media following the meeting.
Bangladesh Football Federation women鈥檚 committee chairman Mahfuza Akhter Kiron blamed the unavailability of the country鈥檚 main footballing venue, the Bangabandhu National Stadium (which is still under reconstruction), as the main reason behind not getting the hosting rights.
鈥楽AFF did not want to take the championship outside of Dhaka due to the cost, thus we [Bangladesh] were not considered,鈥� Kiron explained.
鈥榃e expressed our interest of hosting, with Bangabandhu [National] Stadium in mind. However, the venue鈥檚 renovation work is still going on. SAFF are not satisfied with Bashundhara Kings Arena, and
the Kamalapur stadium is not up to the mark of holding FIFA tier-1 matches,鈥� she added.
Bangladesh are the defending champions of this tournament after winning the championship聽for the first time in 2022 with a 3-1 win over Nepal in the final.