Bangladesh women set for Thailand friendlies in October

Bangladesh women's football team will travel to Thailand in October to play two international friendlies as part of their preparation for next year's AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia.

Mahfuza Akter Kiran, head of the Bangladesh Football Federation's (BFF) women's wing, confirmed the development, informing both the senior and U-20 teams will begin a joint camp in mid-September under the supervision of head coach Peter Butler, who is expected to arrive in Dhaka around the same time following a much-deserved vacation.

"We will start the camp from the 15th or 16th of September. Both the senior and U-20 teams will stay together," Kiran told reporters at the BFF House on Tuesday.

"In October we will travel to Thailand to play two matches against them. We had wanted to play against Thailand in Dhaka, but they did not agree. If I insisted only on playing at home, we would not get opponents," she added, further informing that BFF has already set plans in motion to host a tri-nation series in Dhaka later this year or settle to away fixtures instead.

The update comes on the back of Bangladesh's historic qualification for the AFC Women's Asian Cup for the first time. Butler's side topped their group in the June-July's qualifiers earlier this year with wins over hosts Myanmar, Bahrain and Turkmenistan. They thrashed Bahrain 7-0, edged Myanmar 2-1 and secured another 7-0 victory against Turkmenistan to book their tickets to the continental showpiece in next March.

The commanding run propelled Bangladesh from 128th to 104th in the FIFA Women's World Ranking, marking the biggest leap of any side in the latest update. They also collected the most points (+80.51).

The rise reflects progress at youth level as well, with the U-20 side sealing qualification for next year's AFC Women's U-20 Asian Cup in Thailand, their first-ever appearance in the competition.

"FIFA's attitude towards us is positive. For Bangladesh to reach a good position in such a short time is seen by FIFA as a big achievement. In the history of women's football, no other country has progressed the way Bangladesh has," Kiran said.