Perennial giants Muktijoddha Sangsad KC registered eight current national team players in a bid to lift the Bangladesh League title as they completed their player transfer formalities as the fourth team on Thursday.
The reigning Bangladesh League runners-up registered a total of 20 players – 19 local players and Nigerian Paul Emmanuel Dammi, who was the only foreigner to get registered on the day.
The national team players who signed for Muktijoddha are strikers Zahid Hasan Ameli and Mithun Chowdhury, midfielders Shakil Ahmed, Mamunul Islam and Alamgir Kabir Rana, defenders Ariful Islam and Rezaul Karim Reza and goalkeeper Mamun Khan.
Of them, Ameli, Shakil, Mamun, Arif and Raza came from Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club while Mamun joined from Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra.
The rest 14 players represented Muktijoddha in last yeas’s league as well. The club suffered a shock at the end of the previous season when six of their prominent players – Biplob Bhattacharjee, Rajani Kanta Barman,
Arman Aziz, Motiur Munna, Zahed Parvez Chowdhury and Mohammed Nehal – left the team.
But the club’s recently appointed coach Shafiqul Islam Manik said the inclusion of six new players from the national squad made his team even better.
‘We are a good side now and are capable of fighting for championship in any local tournament,’ said Manik, who joined Muktijoddha on Tuesday from his previous side Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Muktijoddha Sangsad’s central command council secretary general Emdad Hossain Matin handed over the player registration forms to the Bangladesh Football Federation’s professional league committee chairman Abdus Salam Murshedi at the BFF Bhaban to complete the registration.
Squad: Mamun Khan, Mamunul Islam, Ariful Islam, Shakil Ahmed, Rezaul Karim, Zahid Hasan Ameli, Maruf Ahmed, Mithun Chowdhury, Mozammel Hossain Saikat, Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, Maksudur Rahman Mostaq, Jahirul Islam, Anisur Alam Sweet, Obaidur Rahman, Rokonuzzaman Kanchan, Firoz Mahmud Titu, Alamgir Kabir Rana, Rajon Miah, Ajmal Hossain Biddyut and Paul Emmanuel Dammi.
-With New Age input
