Drawing the curtain on the BoB Bhutan Women’s National League 2024, a relentless and triumphant RTC Women’s FC side who have not lost a single game this season are crowned champions of the league today. Capping off an overwhelming season with a perfect record, the champions crushed title rivals Transport United 5-nil in front of their jubilant home crowd at RTC Artificial Turf this afternoon.
In the final match of the season played today, RTC showed their attacking prowess and defensive flair once again scoring five and earning their 7th clean sheet against arch-rivals Transport United Ladies.
In a season defined by overwhelming and lopsided score lines in favour of the champions, a staggering 122 goals were scored in the ten-match league while conceding only two, thanks to their resolute defending and ruthless attack led by centre forward Deki Lhazom.
Deki Lhazom said “I am very happy to get the highest scorer of the tournament award and for that, I would like to thank RTC management, technical team, and teammates for making this happen. I am very happy that I got this for the second time. I showed improvement because last year I scored 31 goals and this year I scored 45 goals. I am looking forward to getting the best out of me next season as well.”
Sonam Choden, midfielder of RTC Women’s FC said “We are very happy that we are the champions again. This is our second title in a row and we are very excited for the future women’s league. We will come back stronger and prepared. I want to thank our RTC management, coaches, my teammates, and everyone involved in this journey until now.”
The 2024 champions title means RTC are now back-to-back champions of the league since the club’s establishment in 2022. They were awarded a cash prize of Nu 750,000 for winning the title.
With the win, RTC will once again take part in the AFC Women’s Champions League next year, representing Bhutan. Despite signing four Bangladeshi players, this year’s campaign in the preliminary round of the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League ended in disappointment after losing both the matches to Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC and Iran’s Bam Khatoon FC.
At the season-ending ceremony today, besides the champions, all other five participating clubs were awarded cash prizes ranging between Nu 50,000 to 450,000. First runner-up Transport United were awarded Nu 50,000 for fair play and their captain Pema Choden Tshering was named the Most Valuable Player.
Pema Choden Tshering, Captain of Transport United said “I am thankful to my teammates for helping me get the Most Valuable Player award for the season. I had missed out Women’s National League for the past two years. So to come back and to get this award is a real honour, but this whole experience I have always focused on my performance for international competitions, as we have the SAFF international competition this year. I am still happy that we received the award.”
Other individual prizes include the BFF President Coach of the Year, young emerging player and best goalkeeper who were all awarded Nu 50,000.
The Bhutan Women’s National League which was founded in 2016 was won by seven different clubs with Sunrise Women’s FC winning it for a record 3 seasons followed by current champions RTC Women’s FC with two titles.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Kipchu
