Bangladesh have their eyes locked on the inaugural SAFF Under-19 Women's Championship trophy as the regional football extravaganza kicks off at Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur on Saturday.

Meanwhile, all visiting four teams – India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan – have already begun training in the city for the tournament, which will be played in a round-robin format before the top two teams feature in the final on December 22.  On the opening day, hosts Bangladesh will kick-start their campaign against Nepal after Bhutan take on Sri Lanka.

As winners of the now-defunct SAFF U-18 Women's Championship, which has been replaced with this upcoming U-19 tournament, the Women in Red and Green are geared up to defend their title by taking advantage of familiar playing environment and home crowd.

"Being champions of the tournament's last edition, we want to defend the title by presenting a good performance at home," captain Maria Manda told reporters at a press conference at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) House yesterday.

Maria is one of the experienced players of the U-19 squad alongside 14 campaigners of the senior women's team in the 23-member squad, declared yesterday.

Head coach Golam Rabbani Choton is optimistic about his side's chances while acknowledging that they will be in for a tough competition.

"After a week's rest following two tough matches in the AFC Women's Asian Cup Qualifiers till September 22, the girls resumed training from September 30 and have worked really hard to display a trophy-winning performance," informed Choton.

BFF Women's Committee chairman Mahfuza Akter Kiran hoped that this group of girls, who had won different tournaments before, would also be in tune this time to taste glory.