Dhaka City Corporation agreed to sponsor the Pioneer Football League for the next 10 years and signed a deal with the Bangladesh Football Federation at the BFF House on Sunday.
DCC mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka handed over a cheque for Tk 25 lakh to BFF president Kazi Salahuddin during the deal signing ceremony. The DCC also assured the BFF of a 10 per cent increase in sponsorship money each year until the deal expires.
Sadeque Hossain urged the BFF to hold the age level competitions on regular basis. ‘The standard of football has deteriorated only for not holding the different age level competitions regularly. The Pioneer League once was the industry for creating future stars, I hope it will revive the golden days,’ the mayor said.
Mentionable that the tournament had begun in 1980 and continued until 1992, but it became an irregular event after that.
Salahuddin said: ‘We failed to hold a number of competitions due to lack of fields, we hope to host the age-level competitions regularly.’
A total of 70 teams have enrolled for the U-16 tournament, to be played in five different zones. The enrolment is still going on and
the BFF will declare the kick-off date within a few days.
BFF vice-president Kazi Nabil Ahmed, executive committee member Harunur Rashid and DCC chief executive officer Abul Kalam Azad were also present on the occasion.
