BFF Academy’s Talent Hunt
FIFA director likely for final selection
FIFA technical director Jean Michel Benezet is likely to conduct the final selection of the booters for the Bangladesh Football Federation Academy in December as the divisional phase of the talent hunt has almost been completed last month.
Some 120 booters — Under-14 and U-18 — from six divisions have already been picked for the final selection while the rest of the 20 to 30 booters from the Dhaka division are still to be finalised. 60 youth footballers from the final list of 150 booters will be picked for the BFF Academy in Sylhet but unfortunately, the renovation and furniture installment at Sylhet still depends on the approval of the finance ministry.
“We told FIFA that we are ready for the final selection and requested them to send their team in the first week of December but they can’t send their team due to busy schedule of FIFA technical director. However, they have assured us that they would complete the selection process by December,” said BFF acting general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, hinting that the FIFA technical director himself might conduct the selection in December.
The football’s governing body had earlier requested the youth and sports ministry to complete the Sylhet academy as soon as possible and the youth ministry sent a project proposal worth Tk 2.10 crore to finance ministry for approval.
“Today [Thursday] the youth and sports ministry sent the project proposal to the finance ministry and we will be informed in the next week about the progress,” said BFF vice-president Badal Roy, who yesterday visited the ministry to learn about the progress of the project.
Roy also informed that if the Sylhet academy was not ready by January next, they would start training with the selected booters on a temporary basis before moving to the Sylhet.
-With The Daily Star input
