Bangladesh were confirmed their AFC Challenge Cup finals ticket as one of the two best runners up sides after a lot of uncertainty, according to the official website of the Asian Football Confederation the-afc.com on Wednesday. The website disclosed the information after the completion of the matches of the last group (E) on Tuesday although the Bangladesh Football Federation are awaiting official confirmation from the AFC.
The BFF wanted final verification from the AFC whether it would stick to the three-goal walkover rule for a no show by Brunei Darussalam or the results against the last placed team of each group to be declared null and void.
Mahfuza Akhter Kiron, executive member of AFC revealed that the general secretary of BFF, Abu Nayeem Sohag failed to communicate with the AFC regarding this matter. Although Sohag earlier said that he discussed about the confusion surrounding Bangladesh’s position with some AFC officials but Kiron confirmed that Sohag in fact never talked with anyone.
Earlier, the official website of the AFC had shown that Turkmenistan, runners up of Group E managed their AFC Challenge Cup finals ticket as the best runners up side among five groups with six points and the best goal difference (+9) among the second placed teams.
Bangladesh finished with the same number of points and the second best goal difference (+5), in the process establishing their route to the finals in Maldives next year as the second best runners up side.
Bangladesh had finished their qualifying campaign as runners-up of Group D, behind Palestine which ended in early March. Bangladesh narrowly edged out 2008 AFC Challenge Cup winners India to the race for the second best runners up side as India had a goal difference of +4, compared to Bangladesh’s tally of +5.
Meanwhile, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Palestine and Philippines already confirmed their berths as champions of Group A, B, C, D and E respectively. Host Maldives qualified automatically as the home nation.
-With New Age input
