It would not be wrong to label the tiny village called Palichara as the nursery of female footballers in the country.

The latest success of Rangpur's Palichara, whose majority of population remain impoverished, is tied with four girls who have been selected this year to participate in a month-long fooball training programme in Portugal.

"It's great news that four girl footballers--Mourasi Akter, Rekha Akter, Nasrin Akter and Sammi Akter--have been selected to practice in Ronaldo's country Portugal", said Milon Mia, one of the coaches of the selected four.

 "It's a kind of a massive opportunity for us to spend a month in Portugal and attend the practice session there. Being girls from a poverty-stricken family, we are the luckiest," said Mourasi while Nasrin mentioned that their only goal now is to perform at their best for Bangladesh.

This particular achievement has filled the air with joy in the village, which has experienced such an atmosphere before as well since so far, several girl footballers of Palichara have managed to showcase their talents in five other countries, having beaten the family and social barriers.

"It's an outcome of their relentless effort through football that earned a reputation for their village", said Sohel Rana, the union chairman.

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The sustained success has prompted the government to build a stadium in the village as budding girl footballers from other districts keep venturing into Palichara to elevate their game.

During a visit to Palichara on Saturday, The Daily Star correspondent found that around 12 girls, wearing proper jerseys and boots, were practising in the middle of the ground at the village, under the supervision of coach Milon Ali, while the stadium construction was taking place at the periphery.

Footballers at Palichara during training on April 18. Photo: Kongkon Karmaker

Apparently the number of trainees had dropped for the month of Ramadan, according to locals.

Harun Ur Rashid, a former coach of the girl footballers, informed that despite many achievements, the girls still face bullies. And even to this day, many of the parents remain reluctant to allow their girls to attend practice every day, he said.

Footballers at Palichara during training on April 18. Photo: Kongkon Karmaker

Van puller Enamul Haque said that it is a burden for him when her daughter Ennima Akter has to travel 10 kilometres everyday to attend practice. He tries to take Ennima to practice by himself just to save the fare.

"If I fail to drop her off, she has to reach the field on foot", said the father.  

Almost all girls have to travel a distance before they could train with the ball since this underdeveloped village of the Sadya Pushkarni union of Rangpur Sadar Upazila lies around 15 kilometres from district headquarters.

"We don't even have a bicycle to commute, as the family members cannot afford it", informed Nasrin, who is now set to fly to Portugal.  

The genesis of football in Palichara overlaps with the year 2011, when the football-crazy girls there were really keen to build a team of their own, however, it was not as easy as they thought it would be as their family members were not ready to conceive their idea of becoming footballers. And the society did not help either.

Against the odds, several girls formed a team and started practicing at the Nayapukur Government Primary School's playground in early 2011, informed Zakir Hossain, who played a significant role during the early stage.

Within a couple of months since initiation, the number of girl footballers had risen to 21. And then arrived the Bangamata Fazilatunnessa Mujib Gold Cup tournament, where the girls punched above their weights.

After that, they never looked back, said the locals, for they had become champions in the divisional round and national level at different times since 2011. The girls also shone in the KFC Cup in 2015 and 2016, after which they stood runners-up in the JFA Under-15 tournament in 2017 and ended up tasting glory in the 47th Summer Football Championship.

In SAFF games too, the girls of Palichara made their presence felt, coach Harun said and he also spoke about Roksana Parvin, now playing in Dhaka, who had previously secured golden boot twice for her dazzling display in the Bangamata Fazilatunnesa Gold Cup tournament.