Bangladesh’s women’s football team began their preparations in Australia ahead of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, wasting little time after arriving in Sydney late on Friday night.

The squad reached Valentine Sports Park around 12:30am local time before turning their focus to training just hours later.

Despite the long journey, head coach Peter Butler put the players through their paces at 8:00am local time on Friday.

The two-hour morning session marked Bangladesh’s first on-field preparations in Australian conditions as they look to fine-tune their readiness for the continental tournament.

Goalkeeping coach Masud Ahmed Ujjal said the players had coped well with the demanding schedule and travel fatigue, with no immediate injury concerns.

“There is some travel fatigue among the players, but there are no injury worries. Everyone is fit,” Ujjal said in a video message released by the Bangladesh Football Federation. “We are trying to adapt to the weather conditions and the session went well.”

The team will continue to stay at Valentine Sports Park until 26 February before moving to the AFC’s designated team hotel the following day. 

“All the facilities required for a proper football team are available here,” Ujjal added.

After completing the morning training session, the players also held a gym session in the afternoon as part of their acclimatisation programme.

Bangladesh are scheduled to resume training on Saturday morning and will play a friendly match against a local club a few days later as part of their build-up to the tournament.