India, Bangladesh share SAFF Women’s U-19 Championship amid controversy

India declared joint winners of SAFF Women's U-19 title with hosts Bangladesh, though the visitors initially thought they have won the title through the toss of coin.

Dhaka: India were on Thursday declared joint winners of the SAFF Women’s Under-19 Football Championships with hosts Bangladesh though the visitors initially thought they have won the title through the toss of coins, in an unprecedented change of decision made by the match officials.

The match ended 1-1 after the regulation 90 minutes of play and direct penalty shootout was ordered by the referee. Interestingly, all the 11 players of both sides, including the goalkeepers, converted their penalty kicks. After the scoreline reached 11-11, the referee was about to continue the penalty shootout when she was told not to do that.

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Suddenly, she called in the captains of the two sides and the toss of the coin was done. India were the lucky side to win the toss of coin and they celebrated. The Bangladeshis protested and their players refused to leave the field of play for a long time.

There was confusion and pandamonium all along and the sizeable crowd were seen throwing a few bottles onto the field and shouting slogans. After more than one hour, the match commissioner, who initially took the decision for tossing the coin, changed his decision and India and Bangladesh were declared joint winners.

“It was a good gesture from the All India Football Federation. We accepted the decision to declare both sides as joint winners,” an AIFF source told PTI. There was confusion on the part of the match officials regarding the tournament rules, which led to the unprecedented scenes.