Epyllion Group to provide the DFA Tk 75 lakh for football
Apparel manufacturing company Epyllion Group has agreed to provide Narayanganj District Association Tk 75 lakh over the next three years to develop their football,
it was announced at a press conference on Monday.
An agreement was signed in this regard as part of which Narayanganj DFA will receive Tk 25 lakh each year to organise the first and second division football leagues as well as a talent hunt programme.
Bangladesh Football Federation had earlier signed a deal with Prime Bank Limited to sponsor district, divisional and national football leagues on December, 2012. But Narayanganj DFA later sent a letter to the BFF informing it about finding their own sponsors.
Riazuddin Al Mamun, chairman of the Epyllion Group and a former member of the Bangladesh Cricket Board, said they agreed to sign the agreement aiming to bring back the golden days of Narayanganj football.
`Narayangonj was the factory of producing players. When I heard that there had been no football leagues for a long time in my district, I felt it is my responsibility to come forward to keep football rolling in Narayanganj,’ said Mamun at the press conference.
Aamra Network, Inter Sports and Akij Group have also joined hands with Epyllion to help revive football in the district which was once one of major footballing hub of the country.
‘With the help of co-sponsors, we will launch a website, prepare a database to preserve the information of players and clubs and also we will try to develop the infrastructure to organise the football events on a regular basis,’ Mamun added.
Narayanganj DFA president Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, who was a renowned former footballer, expressed his gratitude to Epyllion Group for becoming the sponsor and he promised to make proper utilisation of the money.
`Such sponsorship deal is the first time in the history of district football in Bangladesh. We will make sure the money is utilised properly. We promise to take district football to its desired level,’ said Chunnu.
`We will also extend our support to some football academies in Narayangonj, which are being run privately, so that the talented players can be nurtured,’ he added.
The 2nd Division Football League will get underway early in June where a total of 16 clubs from Narayanganj will take part. Every club will get Tk 20,000 as participation money and jerseys.
The first division football league will be held in September-October. The top 12 teams of the district will compete in the league and each team will receive Tk 40,000 from the sponsors as part of the deal.
-With New Age input
