The format of the Bangladesh Premier League could be changed for the upcoming season, with home-and-away matches replaced by matches at neutral venues,
said Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin on Saturday.
The BFF is planning to decentralise domestic football and, with that in mind, they have established four neutral venues in Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong and either Khulna or Jessore.
‘We want to spread domestic football across the country, so we are planning to play the BPL games at different venues. There are a large number of football spectators outside the capital. With this decision, they will now have the opportunity to see top-level football at their local venues,’ said Salahuddin.
The top flight professional league had been played on the basis of home-and-away matches in the last six editions of the BPL.
Most of the clubs had chosen the Bangabandhu National Stadium as their home venue. This time they will have to travel to all the other venues and play an equal number of matches at each venue.
The BFF is also thinking to complete each round of matches in the forthcoming edition of the BPL in a single day.
Five or six matches will be held on the same day at different venues, with Friday or Saturday earmarked as the possible days on which the games will take place.
The BFF is also thinking about increasing the number of BPL clubs to 11 or 12, up from the last season’s 10, to give more opportunities to the clubs to take part in a significant number of matches.
FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation recommended that the BFF increase the number of matches played by each club.
Keeping the AFC’s suggestion in mind, the professional league committee is pondering giving the clubs at least 30 matches in a season.
‘As per the FIFA prescription, each club should have the opportunity to play 40 matches per season. This time we will be able to provide each club in the BPL the chance to compete in at least 30 matches in a season through the Federation Cup, Independence Cup, the BPL and the season-concluding Super Cup,’ said the BFF president on Saturday.
Salahuddin said that the new concept would largely depend on the approval from the BFF’s executive committee meeting, which will be held on July 13.
The BFF is also contemplating granting the request of Arambagh Krira Sangha to give them another opportunity to play top flight football despite being relegated last season.
Chittagong Abahani and Uttar Baridhara have confirmed their promotion to the BPL as the top two teams of the recently concluded Bangladesh Championship League.
Meanwhile, the BFF is trying to initiate a relegation league where the two lowest-ranked sides of the BPL and the top two teams from the BCL will compete against each other for the final spots in the top flight.
There may also be another relegation league where the two bottom teams of the BCL and the top two teams of Club Cup Championship will vie for places in the BCL.
-With New Age input
