BFF, Beximco design biggest ever tourney

Bangabandhu Gold Cup this year
The much talked about ‘Ten Crore Taka’ football tournament will be materialised at the end of this year with Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and the Beximco Group jointly organising the Bangabandhu Gold Cup.
BFF president Kazi Mohammed Salahuddin, who has been indicating at a mega budget tournament over the last few months, at last provided the details of it on Sunday while he was talking to the journalists at his BFF office. Salahuddin, who had a meeting with Vice-Chairman of the Beximco Group Salman F Rahman regarding the tournament on Saturday, detailed the press all about the biggest ever club cup soccer tournament in the country.
Salahuddin said both the BFF and the Beximco agreed in principle to organise the tournament jointly with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as the chief patron and Salman F Rahman as the chairman of the tournament.
The BFF president said that he maintained a close touch with the Beximco key person for a long time and finally had an hour-long meeting with him (Salman F Rahman) on Saturday. Salahuddin informed that they (BFF-Beximco) set October-November tentative schedule of the tournament. Two teams from home and six from abroad will take part in the tournament.
The BFF president although, disclosed the country’s names to the media earlier, repeated on Sunday that he would like to request South Korea, Qatar, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Uzbekistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar and India to send their top teams.
He assured that two home teams will play in the tournament and it would be one of the top tournaments in Asia.
“We estimated the approximate budget of the tournament Taka Ten Crore. It might increase or decrease but right now we just chalked it out initially,” Salahuddin told newsmen. “The quality of the tournament will be a top one in Asia. We will finalise the team selection later but I can assure you that ‘A Grade’ teams will take part in the tournament.” 
Replying to a query, Salahuddin said that the tournament would not coincide with the domestic season, “The season will start as usual with the Federation Cup, the B-League will also get underway in accordance with the schedule.”
Meanwhile, Salahuddin also had a positive response from the Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarkar about having the permission to use the Sylhet BKSP, where the BFF president wants to set a football academy.
Salahuddin said, Minister told me ‘I have visited the spot (Sylhet BKSP), I have no objection to give it to you. Personally I like to give it to you, but I will complete the official formalities after the budget meeting’.

Courtesy of The Independent