Bangladesh Football Federation on Tuesday backed off from their previous decision of naturalising three African footballers after facing a huge criticism from the footballing fraternity. BFF earlier decided to give Bangladeshi citizenship to African trio — Guinean forward Ismail Bangoura, Nigerian forward Kingsley Chigozi and Ghanaian defender Samad Yussif — in a bid to strengthen the national football team.
The Africans also expressed their consent to play for Bangladesh.
BFF was supposed to submit the applications of the trio for their naturalisation on Tuesday but BFF president Kazi Salahuddin said they needed more time to assess the matter before coming to a final decision.
‘Now I think we need to assess more before taking the decision of their citizenship’, said Salahuddin to the reporters on Tuesday.
BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag informed that they were ready to submit the players’ application on Tuesday but they changed their mind after receiving criticisms from former players, coaches and organisers.
‘We changed our decision because we saw a lot of positive and negative reactions all over the football arena,’ Shohag said.
‘We saw mixed reactions from the media so that we realised it is better not to do it.’
BFF actually took the initiative to give citizenship to the African trio after national team head coach Lodewijk de Kruif requested them to do it in a bid to boost his side for some instant success.
-With New Age input
