Bangladesh Football Federation's general secretary Emran Hossain Tushar expressed his haplessness over arranging preparatory matches for the women's national team ahead of their SAFF Women's Championship title defence.

Bangladesh will look to defend the title of the regional championship in Nepal in October. The federation high-ups had expressed desire to arrange six matches before the event, but have been able to arrange only four so far – two at home against Chinese Taipei in June and two away at Bhutan last month.

However, due to fund shortage, Imran said they are unable to arrange any more matches this month.

"We are still trying to organize practice matches outside the FIFA window. We have contacted a few federations but haven't received anything positive," Imran told reporters yesterday.

Imran said since they have a lot on their plate, they cannot arrange preparation matches without the help of government or sponsors.

"By September-October, we will have six tournaments running. If the government or any sponsors come ahead, it will be easier for us," Imran said.

"I don't want to pressure the new sports adviser. We already had a letter sent to the ministry before his appointment, and we will ask again if there is any opportunity to have a fund ready for us," added the BFF spokesman.

Meanwhile, Imran informed that they have extended the salary deal of the women's team till October.

"Sabina (Khatun), on behalf of the four players who were outside the camp, wanted to sit with the president on Saturday but since we had a meeting on that day, we informed them to meet on Sunday.

"They wanted the deal, which was till August 31, to be extended. We were already working on it.  Since president's term is since October 26, we have extended the deal till the end of October," claimed Imran, even though media reports suggest that the women's team still have two months of unpaid wages.