Beach soccer soon

WAF (we are for football), a newly-formed organisation comprising former national footballers, have decided to host the first-ever beach football tournament in Cox’s Bazar from February 26 to 27 in a bid to give country’s football a new shape.
Country’s traditional giants Mohammedan, Abahani, Brothers Union, Victoria SC, Rahmatganj MFS along with local Cox’s Bazar Beach Football Club, split into two groups, will take part in the five-a-side tournament. Top two teams from each group will play in the semifinals.
Former national players of respective clubs will play for their old tents while Cox’s Bazar Beach Football Club will consist of those national players who are from outside of five Dhaka clubs, said the organisers at a press conference at Hotel Sheraton yesterday.
The 10 matches of the competition will be telecast live on Channel I from the venue.
The mega tournament will cost Tk 50 lakh and Comfort Sea Star have earned the title sponsorship rights providing major part of the fund while Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation have also extended their co-operation to the tournament to promote the world’s longest seashore.
The champions will be awarded Tk one lakh while the runners-up and third place finishers will get Tk 50,000 and Tk 30,000 respectively.
Duration of each match will be 36 minutes and there will be a three-minute interval after every 12 minutes and the matches will strictly follow the rules of beach football, informed Shafiqul Islam Manik, the general secretary of WAF.
Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation chairman Hemayet Uddin Talukdar and Comfort Seat Star managing director Md Enayet Ullah spoke on the occasion.