The long-awaited third edition of the Bangabandhu International Gold Cup Football Tournament will be held in the third week of the January next, the Bangladesh Football Federation decided it at an emergency meeting on Tuesday. Satellite television Channel 9 was awarded the sponsorship rights for 5-year as the BFF said they are planning to make it as a regular fixture. Channel 9, who is expected to sign an agreement in this regard, has agreed to pay Tk 6 crore for the five-year period, said the BFF officials.
‘We will try to host the tournament regularly now,’ said BFF’s senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedi.
Five teams – Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Bahrain and Laos – have already verbally assured the BFF that they will be joining the hosts Bangladesh in the tournament. The BFF is expecting to get final confirmation from the participating teams by November 10.
Meanwhile, the BFF is planning to host the tournament in at least two venues with Sylhet, Jessore and Rajshahi, the three cities which made international debut recently are vying to join Dhaka.
The final of the tournament will be held at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
The first two editions of the Bangabandhu International Gold Cup were held in 1997 and 1999 respectively.
-With New Age input
