Maria Manda

Maria Manda
Manda in 2024
Personal information
Full name Maria Manda Sangma
Date of birth (2003-05-10) May 10, 2003 (age 23)
Place of birth Mandirgona, Dhobaura, Mymensingh, Bangladesh
Height 1.47 m (4 ft 10 in)
Position Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Rajshahi Stars
Youth career
2011–2014 Kalsindur Government Primary School
Kalsindur FA
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2020–2023 Bashundhara Kings 37 (4)
2023–2024 Nasrin 8 (5)
2024 → Royal Thimphu College (loan) 1 (?)
2025 Thimphu City 6 (18)
2025—2026 Farashganj 10 (14)
2026– Rajshahi Stars 0 (0)
International career‡
2014–2016 Bangladesh U14 10 (6)
2015–2019 Bangladesh U17 11 (3)
2018– Bangladesh U20 9 (1)
2016– Bangladesh 56 (1)
2018 Bangladesh futsal 3 (0)
Medal record
Women's football
Representing  Bangladesh
SAFF Women's Championship
Winner2024 Nepal
Winner2022 Nepal
Runner-up2016 India
South Asian Games
Bronze medal – third place2016 India
SAFF U-20 Women's Championship
Winner2018 Bhutan
Winner2021 Bangladesh
Bangamata U-19 Women's International Gold Cup
Winner2019 Bangladesh
AFC U-14 Girls' Regional C'ship – South and Central
Winner2015 BangladeshBangladesh U14
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 16 February 2026
‡ National team caps and goals as of 21 September 2026

Maria Manda Sangma (Bengali: মারিয়া মান্দা; born 10 May 2003) is a Bangladeshi professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Rajshahi Stars and the Bangladesh national team.

She has also played for the Bangladesh national futsal team.

Early life

Maria Manda Sangma was born on 10 May 2003 in Mandirgona village, Dhobaura, Mymensingh. She belongs to Garo tribe.

Early career

Maria became involved in football in 2011. In 2013, they became the first champion for the famous Kalsindur Government Primary School in Dhobaura, where she was a player.

Club career

Nasrin

In the 2023–24 season, Maria joined Nasrin in the Bangladesh Women's Football League.

Royal Thimphu College

In 2024, she was loaned to Royal Thimphu College in Bhutan to play in the preliminary stage of the 2024-25 AFC Women's Champions League. Prior to participating in the tournament, she featured in a league match for the club.

Thimphu City

In 2025, she signed for Bhutanese club Thimphu City.

Farashganj

Maria joined Farashganj in the 2025–26 Bangladesh Women's Football League. She scored her first goal in her debut for the club.

Rajshahi Stars

She joined Rajshahi Stars to play in the 2026–27 AFC Women's Champions League. She featured in the club's preliminary-stage campaign, which ended with one win and two defeats.

International career

Youth

She was selected the captain of Bangladesh U-15 team. Under her leadership, Bangladesh became the undefeated champion after defeating India. She was then called up to the Under-14 national team in 2014. Bangladesh won the AFC U-14 Regional Championship in Tajikistan under her co-captaincy. She was also the co-captain of the undefeated champion team in the AFC U-16 qualifiers.

After she was selected for the Bangladesh women's national football team, she contributed to the runners-up of SAFF. As a result, Bangladesh under-15 armband was tied to her arm in the safe. Afterwards, India lost twice in the same tournament.

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 qualified for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women's Championship in Thailand in September 2017.

She was the member of the Bangladesh U19 team who won the 2018 SAFF U-18 Women's Championship and Bangamata U-19 Women's International Gold Cup in 2019. She later played in the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification.

Senior

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 into SAFF Championship final where they lost against India and became Runner-up. And in 2018, she also played in the 2020 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. She played in 2019 SAFF Women's Championship for Bangladesh where they became semi-finalist.

Maria scored her first international goal on 2 December 2025 against Azerbaijan during the 2025 Bangladesh Tri-Nations Cup at the National Stadium.

Before the start of the 2026 SAFF Women's Championship, Maria was appointed captain of the national team.

Statistics

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.2 December 2025National Stadium, Dhaka, Bangladesh Azerbaijan1–11–22025 Bangladesh Tri-Nations Cup

Honours

Club

Bashundhara Kings Women

International

Winner : 2022, 2024
Runner-up : 2016
Bronze : 2016
Champion (2): 2018, 2021
Champion trophy shared (1): 2019
Bangladesh U-14 Girls'
Champion : 2015

References

  1. ↑ "2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup Squad Lists" (PDF). Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 27 February 2026.
  2. ↑ Hasan Jamilur Rahman Saikat (1 August 2025). "'The federation want ready-made players — no one wants to build them'". The Business Standard. Retrieved 9 October 2026.
  3. ↑ "Schedule & Results". Asian Football Confederation. Retrieved 2 October 2016.
  4. ↑ "Maria Manda". priyo.com (in Bengali). Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  5. ↑ "Bangladesh squad" (PDF). bff.com.bd. 29 April 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 May 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  6. ↑ Uzzaman, Bodi. "'এখন বলে, ওই দেখো মারিয়ার মা যাচ্ছে'". Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Dhaka. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
  7. ↑ Reporter, Sports (1 August 2024). "Bangladeshi quartet to compete in AFC Women's Champions League for a Bhutanese club". The Bangladesh Standard. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  8. ↑ "ঋতুপর্ণার নাম যখন ম্যাথো, মনিকার ইয়াংকি, মারিয়ার দিচেন". Prothom Alo (in Bengali). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  9. ↑ "কৃষ্ণাকে রেখেই ভুটান গেলেন আরও ৫ নারী ফুটবলার". Somoy News (in Bengali). 13 April 2025. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  10. ↑ "ফরাশগঞ্জে মারিয়া তহুরা মনিকারা আছেন নেপালি ফুটবলাররাও". দৈনিক সংগ্রাম (in Bengali). 27 December 2025. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  11. ↑ Dhaka Post (1 January 2026). "তহুরা-শামসুন্নাহারের হ্যাটট্রিকে ফরাশগঞ্জের গোলবন্যা" (in Bengali). Dhaka Post. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Sports Reporter (1 January 2026). "Shamsunnahar Jr, Tohura run riot in Rangers rout". The Daily Star. Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  13. ↑ "Rajshahi Stars target finals on AFC Women's Champions League debut". The Daily Star. 19 August 2026. Retrieved 19 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Rajshahi Stars sign off with 8-0 rout". The Daily Star. 23 August 2026. Retrieved 30 September 2026.
  15. ↑ "Maria Manda, the name of the fighter". Samakal. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2021.
  16. ↑ "Bangladesh, Australia through to AFC U-16 Women's C'ship 2017". Asian Football Confederation. 4 September 2016. Archived from the original on 5 September 2016. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  17. ↑ "Bangladesh win SAFF U-18 Women's title". Banglanews24.com. 7 October 2018. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  18. ↑ "Bangladesh, Laos U-19 women declared joint champions as Fani forces cancellation of Bangamata Gold Cup final". bdnews24.com. 3 May 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  19. ↑ "Maria Manda". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "saff-womens-championship-2016". saffederation.org. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  21. ↑ "AWARDS AND HONOURS". nepal90.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  22. ↑ "Maria Manda". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  23. ↑ "হামজায় উজ্জীবিত মারিয়া মান্দা". রূপালী বাংলাদেশ (in Bengali). Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  24. ↑ "Maria Manda replaces Afeida Khandokar as captain for tactical reasons". The Daily Star. 27 May 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  25. ↑ "Garo girl Maria Manda Sangma to lead B'desh at SAFF Championship". The Shillong Times. 26 May 2026. Retrieved 27 May 2026.
  26. ↑ "Unstoppable Kings clinch Women's Football League". Dhaka Tribune. 6 December 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  27. ↑ "Bashundhara Kings retain title". The Daily Star. 18 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.