Bangladeshi footballer
Maria Manda Sangma (Bengali: মারিয়া মান্দা; born 10 May 2003) is a Bangladeshi professional women's footballer[2] who plays as a midfielder for both the Bangladesh Women's Football League club Bashundhara Kings Women and the Bangladesh women's national football team. Previously she played for the Kalsindur High School team in Mymensingh. She was a member of the Bangladesh Under-14 team that won the 2015 AFC U-14 Women's Regional Championship - South and Central in Nepal and the 2016 AFC U-14 Women's Regional Championship - South and Central in Tajikistan. As a defensive midfield player, she played in the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification which held in Dhaka, Bangladesh under Bangladesh U16.
Early years
Maria Manda Sangma was born on 10 May 2003 in Mandirgona village, Dhobaura, Mymensingh.[3] She belongs to Garo tribe.
Playing career
Maria became involved in football in 2011. In 2013, they became the first champion for the famous Kalsindur Government Primary School in Dhobaura, Maria was a member of that group. Maria Manda was the captain of Bangladesh U-15 team. Under her leadership, Bangladesh became the undefeated champion after defeating India. Maria was called up to the Under-14 national team in 2014. Bangladesh won the AFC U-14 Regional Championship in Tajikistan under her co-captaincy. Maria was also the co-captain of the undefeated champion team in the AFC U-16 qualifiers. Then she took place in the Bangladesh women's national football team. Maria's contribution in becoming the runners-up of SAFF for Bangladesh held in Siliguri is not less. As a result, Bangladesh under-15 armband was tied to her arm in the safe. The whole of Bangladesh saw the next story. Bangladesh is the undefeated champion holding the hand of Maria. In South Asian football, the empire-building India lost twice in the same tournament.[4]
She was selected to the Bangladesh U16 team for the 2015 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification – Group B matches in 2014. Bangladesh participated in the AFC U-14 Girls' Regional Championship – South and Central held in Nepal in 2015. Bangladesh women's national U16 football team played the qualifier for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship. And, she played in 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship qualification – Group C matches where Bangladesh became group C champion. Being group C champion, Bangladesh have qualified for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship in Thailand in September 2017.[5]
She was the member of the Bangladesh U19 team who won the 2018 SAFF U-18 Women's Championship[6] and Bangamata U-19 Women's International Gold Cup[7] in 2019. She later played in the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification.[8]
Maria was selected to Bangladesh women's national football team for 2016 South Asian Games, where they became third in the women's football category and won Bronze. Also she was in the team for 2016 SAFF Women's Championship.Bangladesh were in the Group B. She played two of the group B matches and being group B unbeaten champion, Bangladesh demolish Maldives 6–0 to barge in the semi-final[9] into SAFF Championship final where they lost against India and became Runner-up.[10] And in 2018, she also played in the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[11] She played in 2019 SAFF Women's Championship for Bangladesh where they became semi-finalist.
