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Peter Butler

Bangladesh national women’s football team coach Peter Butler conducted the first on-field training session with 13 footballers at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on Saturday amid senior players’ boycott. 

This was the first time the women’s team, mostly juniors, trained under Butler since the SAFF Women’s Championship campaign in October 2024.


It was also the first footballing activity at the BNS since July 2021, which has been going through renovation to date.

Shaheda Akhtar Ripa, Afeida Khandaker, Iren Parvin, Kohati Kisku, Sapna Rani, Yearzan Begum, Arpita Bishwas, Halima Khatun, Akalima Khatun, Munki Khatun, Surma Akter and Surovi Akanda Prity and Zainab Begum joined the training on Saturday.

The rift between Butler and the senior players started back in October 2024 when the Englishman opted for youth by benching senior players during Bangladesh’s campaign to back-to-back SAFF Women’s Championship titles in Nepal.

Butler returned to Bangladesh on Tuesday after the BFF extended the 58-year-old’s contract for two more years till December 31, 2026.

On his return to Bangladesh, Butler called the players for a meeting on Wednesday, but the senior players revolted and refused to attend the meeting and to train under him.

The 18 players placed a seven-point demand before the press on Thursday a day after they sent a letter to BFF president Tabith Awal, who is now in London, citing their allegations and to solve issues.

A couple of hours after the players placed their demand, the BFF formed a seven-member committee to investigate the cause of the rift and announced to solve the issue in seven days. 

The committee, which headed by BFF senior vice-president Imrul Hasan, was continued the first meeting till filing the report on Saturday. 

Meanwhile, Butler did not heed any interest in the players’ boycott, expecting more players from Under-20 team will join the camp soon.

‘It was good, the pitch was good, no problem… We would continue, you know, I mean the show goes on. We carry out, we stay professional and organised… I’m not interested in rest,’ Butler replied to the reporters’ query at the BFF premises on Saturday after the training session at the BNS. 

‘The youngers will join…I’m all interested in the next group of under-20s that come through and they will join… I’ve no doubt they will serve the country,’ he said.