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Football Fed’s false promises bring shame

Admin — Fri, 20 Jan 2023 14:51:29 +0000

Sports Desk : dhakamirror.com

Football organizers and former national team players say the Bangladesh Football Federation has lost respect due to repeated false promises to bring world football stars and huge teams to the country.

After the BFF canceled a press conference to tell the media on the reigning World champion Argentine national football team’s June friendly match in Dhaka, it crossed their minds.

The press conference, which was cancelled terming ‘due to unavoidable circumstances’, was scheduled to be held at the BFF House on Wednesday at noon as the country’s football governing body provided an invitation to the media on Tuesday.

BFF president Kazi Salahuddin also talked to media on Tuesday when he claimed that the Argentine Football Association gave feedback to the BFF about their visit to Bangladesh in June during the FIFA window.

‘It is almost finalised; ‘yes’ more or less. They [AFA] gave feedback (to us) to come in June during the FIFA window. So, we can hope,’ Salahuddin told the media.

On Wednesday, an Argentine sports journalist Gaston Edul, who works for TYC Sports television, denied the BFF’s claim.

Gaston Edul twitted, ‘There are no talks between Argentina and Bangladesh to play in June. AFA is not going to advance anything until it resolves the continuity of Lionel Scaloni. And it is a priority that Argentina close the rivals for March.’

This was not the first time that the BFF had made such a statement to the media after the Argentine team visited Bangladesh in September 2011 and beat Nigeria 3-1 in a friendly match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium during Salahuddin’s first four-year tenure of presidency.

‘BFF will get Maradona in Bangladesh in 2020…This is the programme in 2020. I’m really looking forward to it and that is confirmed. He will come for the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu and meet the PM [Sheikh Hasina],’ Salahuddin made the statement on December 31, 2019.

In January 2013 the BFF boss claimed that Barcelona had approached them with a proposal that they were willing to play in Bangladesh. If everything goes well, they may visit Bangladesh any time around August, when the club will be touring Asia.

In November 2019, the BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag stated to the media that English giants Manchester United were likely to visit Dhaka in June of the following year.

The same official also stated that the BFF has been working since October 2019 with the UK-based football agent RightAgent4You to hold a friendly game between Lionel Messi’s Argentina and their South American neighbour Paraguay in the November FIFA window.

Though, none of those initiatives taken by the BFF turned into reality, the BFF organisers, still were adamant to host Argentina in June this year.

‘BFF’s work is going on in a full swing on this issue [to bring Argentina],’ the BFF in a media release stated soon after the cancelation of Wednesday’s press conference.

Former Bangladesh national forward Ashraf Uddin Ahmed Chunnu, who is currently working as the team committee director at the Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, termed all these BFF statements as ‘bluff’.

‘BFF has lost its credibility due to as such false statements. People have lost their trust on BFF, an organisation, which is responsible for country’s football development,’ Chunnu told New Age on Wednesday.

‘All these promises are completely ‘bluffs’. It’s nothing more than that. BFF is a symbol of trust for sports-loving people but it has now far away from peoples trust due to its organisers’ false commitment,’ said an annoyed Chunnu.

‘I don’t know why they do such kind of things, who suggested them to bring Argentina or others to Bangladesh. I guess, they want to divert people’s attention from their failures of development of Bangladesh football in more than a decade.’

Another former national football team player and National Sports Award 2012 winner Abdul Gaffar said,’ I want to tell you on record that it was a continuation of their publicity stunt.’

‘It was part of their show off. They don’t take lessons from the past and play with people’s emotion through football,’ said Gaffar.

‘They are trying to hide their corruption, what they committed and we have seen in media reports, in a superficial way by diverting people’s attention through this kind of false and charming commitments…I am telling you, they [BFF] won’t be able bring Argentina national team to Bangladesh and you will see that,’ he said.

– With New Age input

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BFF ready to give BPL rights to Soccer Int’l UK for £1m

Admin — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:30:55 +0000

The Bangladesh Football Federation on Saturday decided to demand one million pound from Soccer International, a UK-based event management company, to award them the rights for next season’s Bangladesh Premier League. BFF executive committee took the decision to send a letter of intent to the company at a meeting on Saturday, who recently wished to hold a nation-wide franchise-based football tournament in Bangladesh.
But BFF president Kazi Salahuddin asked them to promote the Bangladesh Premier League first before organising a multi-million pound franchise-based football tournament.
‘We are going to send a letter of intent to them [Soccer International UK] to award them all the rights for next season’s Bangladesh Premier League for one million pound,’ BFF senior vice-president Salam Murshedy told the reporters after the meeting.
‘If they meet our demand we are ready to give them all the rights of the league.’
Murshedy also admitted that they have decided to permit Chittagong Abahani hosting the Sheikh Kamal Gold Cup International Club Football Tournament in Chittagong from October 17 to 30.
‘To provide the slot to the port city club, we can sacrifice the Independence Cup tournament which is scheduled to be held in October,’ he said.
In the meeting, BFF also decided not to hold election in the post of an executive member which has been vacant since the death of former women’s committee chairman Shirajul Islam Bacchu.
BFF president Kazi Salahuddin himself agreed to take the charge of the women’s wing.
The executive committee also agreed in principal to bring the SAFF Under-16 Championship winning players under a four-year long training programme at the BFF Football Academy in Sylhet.
BFF also approved a new set of jersey for the national team which was displayed to the media at the end of the meeting.

-With New Age input

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BFF halts naturalisation of African trio

Admin — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 13:41:56 +0000

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

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National football team looks to become ‘int’l’

Admin — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 04:07:38 +0000

While the Bangladesh Football Federation is trying to naturalise the foreign players in a bid to strengthen the national football team, the expatriate Bangladesh players are showing their interests to be part of the Bangladesh national team at different levels. The BFF has yet to place the applications for the citizenship of African trio — Guinean forward Ismail Bangoura, Ghanaian defender Samad Yussif and Nigerian forward Kingsley Chigozie — to the home ministry.
But three England-based Bangladeshi players have already sent their CVs to the BFF presenting their interest to play for the Bangladesh U-19 national team in the upcoming SAFF U-19 Championship and AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers in August-September.
The players are — Akmal, Rabbi Islam and Rahim Uddin, all three are based in Cardiff, Wales.
‘Of them, Akmal belongs to the U-21 group but Rabbi and Rahim are from the U-19 group. We want to observe all of them though Rabbi and Rahim are expected to come in Bangladesh for trial,’ said Bangladesh assistant coach Saiful Bari Titu on Saturday.
‘The BFF officials are in constant touch with the trio, who don’t have the Bangladeshi passport and they have been told that the BFF would start the procedure of the passport once they are selected for the national team at any level.
‘Rahim is much interested to take part for the Bangladesh U-19 team and promised to come in Bangladesh after his probable trail at the English Premier League club West Ham United.’
Apart from Akmal, Rabbi and Rahim, the game’s governing body has been searching for more expatriate players as well.
And they have found some English-based talents in — Hamza Chowdhury, who is monitored by the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United and Barcelona, Zidan Miah, a eight-year talented midfielder, Jaki Baranshil, Simanta Ahmed, Yasin Talha, Raheem Fernandez, Ahmeduzzaman Onasis and Zaman Arik.
‘Yes, we have found them by internet and they are thought to be Bangladeshi-born players’, said Titu.
‘We have yet to communicate with them but we will do it after knowing their consent whether they are interested to play for Bangladesh national team at different levels.’

-With New Age input

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Sylhet Football Academy will take part on BCL

Admin — Tue, 19 May 2015 03:48:23 +0000

The Bangladesh Football Federation on Monday decided to include Sylhet Football Academy team in the upcoming Bangladesh Championship League to give the young players opportunity to prove their worth in the competitive level. The decision came through a meeting of the BFF. Despite being late, BFF finally followed the path of All India Football Federation who has already included their own team Indian Arrows in their top professional league.
Professional football league committee decided to hold the second-tier league with 10 clubs including five new teams as the league will be held with two phases for the first time.
The schedule of the league is yet to be finalised.
Five previous teams—Agrani Bank, Wari Club, Arambagh, Victoria Club and Uttor Baridhara will be competed with three first division outfits—Youngmen’s Fakirerpool CLub, T&T Club and Bashabo Tarun Sangha while Police Athletic Club and BFF Academy will be included for the first time in the competitive level.
‘We failed to give any playing opportunity to our academy students, so we decided to include a team from academy in the forthcoming BCL,’ BFF’s senior vice president Salam Murshedi told reporters after the meeting.
‘We believe those players will prove their worth in the competitive level and we will get financial benefit by selling those players in future.’
During the meeting, BFF also decided that the second leg of the Bangladesh Premier League, the first-tier league will start from June 20 while the second phases of inter clubs’ players registration window will be opened on May 30.
The ongoing first leg of the league will be finished on May 22.

-With New Age input

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BFF confirms Dutch duo for AFC Challenge Cup

Admin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:33:24 +0000

Dutch coaches Lodewijk de Kruif and Rene Koster withdrew their preconditions and agreed to guide Bangladesh in the forthcoming AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers, the Bangladesh Football Federation said on Tuesday. ‘The misunderstanding between us has been cleared and we sent a draft agreement to them,’ said BFF president Kazi Salahuddin. ‘We are hopeful that they will be arriving on February 22.’
Kruif and Koster had earlier set some preconditions for their 12-day stint, some of which seemed absurd to the BFF. The condition included that only the duo will have the rights to cancel the agreement while the federation would have no such right.
It also included that they will send a third coach if they fail to turn up and the BFF will have to make the full payments in advance. They also demanded the BFF to pay their taxes both in Bangladesh and Netherlands.
The BFF refused to bow down and sent a strongly-worded email, which also asked them to make their decision clear by Monday night.
‘I don’t want to undermine the coaches after letting you know the process in which we convinced the coaches,’ said Salahuddin. ‘All I can say is that the coaches will receive 50 percent money after their arrival and get the rest of the 50 percent during the tour of Nepal.’
Bangladesh, Nepal, Palestine and Northern Mariana Island will compete in the qualifiers and only the top finishers will qualify for the finals of AFC Challenge Cup.
The Bangladesh national team are supposed to leave the country for Nepal on February 25 as the qualifiers will get underway from March 2 in Nepal.
The deal for the AFC Cup was a good learning experience for BFF, said Salahuddin adding that
it will help them before signing a final two-year agreement with the coaches.
Kruif and Koster signed a Memorandum of Understanding with BFF in
January to become the coach of Bangladesh for
two years, starting from August 2013.
‘We gained some experience through this agreement and understood how expensive and difficult it is to sign qualified coaches and I think we can do such things more smoothly in the future,’ said Salahuddin.

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Dutch duo sign finally

Admin — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 15:37:11 +0000

Dutchman Lodewijk de Kruif agreed to join as the new head coach of the Bangladesh national football team after a gruelling six-hour negotiation with the Bangladesh Football Federation on Saturday.
Kruif and his assistant Rene Koster have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the BFF in the afternoon to take up the national team duties in July after the expiration of their current contract back in the Netherlands.
Although their two-year agreement will start in July, two months before Bangladesh’s SAFF Championship campaign in Nepal, the coaches will come to Dhaka on February 20 for three weeks to train Bangladesh for the AFC Challenge Cup in March.
‘We had to face a lot of obstacles because of certain flaws in the agreements of our previous coaches. So we tried to make this one flawless and incorporate every small details including dress code, holiday patterns, bonus policy, media engagement and so on,’ BFF president Kazi Salahuddin told reporters.
‘The coaches will join in July for two years but I have invited them to take care of the national team at the AFC Challenge Cup as well.
‘Now, after returning to their current club in the Netherlands they will inform us how they will act in the tournament, whether on loan or in any other form,’ said Salahuddin.
The 43-year-old Lodewijk, who never had the experience of guiding a national team in his 16-year coaching career, said that he was very happy with the details of the agreement and will work hard to help Bangladesh achieve their goal.
‘I am very happy with the contract and now my job will be to help Bangladesh to achieve their goal,’ Lodewijk said. ‘We have a lot of plans and ideas and now we will try our best to implement those. We are young and adequately educated. I believe we will be able to help you.’
Bangladesh is now working with the aim to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and one of the biggest steps towards achieving that goal is to launch the BFF academy.
Lodewijk’s assistant Rene will look after the academy as an additional job.
Rene, however, said it is not impossible to fulfil ‘Vision 2022’, though it has been dubbed as an overambitious goal by many.
‘The destination is not out of reach but the main problem in this country is you start late,’ he said.
‘The players start playing at the age of 15 or 16 here which is nearly seven or eight years too late. I have talked about this with the BFF and they assured me to help change this trend,’ said Rene.

-With New Age input

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BFF hopeful Kruif, Koster will sign contract

Admin — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 10:00:23 +0000

The Bangladesh Football Federation is optimistic that the Dutch coaches Lodwejik de Kruif and Rene Koster will sign a contract today, though there is still some confusion if they will be available anytime soon.
The two coaches came to Bangladesh on Monday and they had several discussions with the BFF officials about a possible deal which will make them the national team head coach and assistant coach respectively.
They also visited the BFF infrastructures and watched a Bangladesh Premier League match to get a clear idea on the prospect of Bangladesh football.
The BFF officials said they have still some differences with the coaches over certain terms and conditions, but said they should not stand in the way of an agreement.
BFF president Kazi Salahuddin said their negotiations are at the final stage and the gap between their demands is decreasing as the talks progressed.
‘Everything is going in the right direction. I am as hopeful as you all are. There are some little things which will be sorted out by tonight. You will know everything in tomorrow’s press conference,’ Salahuddin said on Friday.
Salahuddin, however, failed to confirm when the two coaches will be available for their Bangladesh job as they are already under contract with a Dutch club.
The BFF president said their main target is to use the coaches in the SAFF Championship in September and so they are not in a hurry.

-With New Age input

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BFF to make professional league a separate entity

Admin — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:13:53 +0000

Bangladesh Football Federation at a meeting with the representatives of the professional league clubs, decided to make its professional league committee a separate entity in order to reduce the BFF’s influence on the committee.
According to the changed decision, the committee will be run mostly by the club representatives while there will be a few representatives from the BFF on the committee, which will organise the professional leagues.
All the responsibilities of organsing the competitions will be on the committee including finding sponsors or arranging the funds, having an own referees panel and making the disciplinary decisions.
The committee will also be given the responsibility to find ten separate countrywide venues so that all the Bangladesh Premier League clubs can have their own home ground instead of using the Bangabandhu National Stadium for the games.
The meeting has also decided to hold an under-16 competition in the next month and made it compulsory for all the professional league clubs to participate in this tournament.
The mid-league transfer window of the Bangladesh Premier League will remain open from January 10 to 23 with the first leg of the league concluding on January 19.

-With New Age input

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BFF takes guard as fixing threat looms

Admin — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 16:12:07 +0000

The seventh round of the Bangladesh Premier League begins today with title aspirants Team BJMC taking on a struggling Brothers Union at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in the first match of the round.
The BFF has decided to take extra measures ahead of this game as there is a match-fixing rumour swirling around as Brothers are in danger of being relegated after failing to open their account in the league.
Brothers, the traditional giants have lost all of their five matches they played so far while BJMC have fallen slightly behind in the title race having earned only five points from as many matches and they are eight points behind league leaders Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.
Brothers’ desperateness to avoid relegation and BJMC’s hopes of winning the title evaporating set up a good stage for a fixed match which made the BFF to become alert.
‘We have information that there is a possibility of fixing the outcome and thus we are very cautious. We have taken some measures to prevent any kind of unlawful practice,’ said Abu Nayeem Shohag, general secretary of the Bangladesh Football federation.
Shohag informed that they, apart from the Bangladesh Television cameras, have decided to install extra movie cameras to record the match while they also have taken some steps which he did not want to reveal.
Shohag also encouraged all the football stakeholders especially the journalists to help them by giving information if any clue of match-fixing is found.
Apart from this match, the round, however, is not likely to witness too many exciting matches as only one of the four games of the round will see a clash between two big guns while the three other games are encounters between the title contenders and the bottom teams.
According to the points table so far, the biggest match of the round is scheduled for Saturday with fourth-placed team Mohammedan Sporting Club facing last season’s runners-up Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra at the latter’s home venue of Gopalganj stadium.
Muktijoddha, however, are not at the top of their form in this edition of the competition after losing 16 of their last season’s players in the pre-season transfer window but still they pose a big challenge for an in-form Mohammedan because of their unbeaten home record so far this year.
This round does not include any game featuring Abahani Limited as the defending champions have been given a rest but the spectators of Dhaka will still get a chance to see some of the country’s best players exhibiting their skills when star-studded Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra will take on Arambagh Krira Sangha on Friday.
The season’s curtain-raiser competition Federation Cup champions Russell are third in the league table with 12 points they earned from five matches while Arambagh are second from the bottom gathering only three points from five appearances.
The table-toppers Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club got their game of the round against Feni Soccer Club at the BNS on Saturday.
Jamal, however, are likely to lead the table after this round as well since previous record does not suggest Feni Soccer Club to be tough opponents in their away matches while Jamal have been playing a disciplined game this season.

-With New Age input

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