Bashundhara Kings' AFC mission to resume in October
Bangladesh Premier League champions Bashundhara Kings and its Group E rivals are set to play their remaining matches of the 2020 AFC Cup at an individual venue in October.
Asian Football Confederation took the decision during an online ending up in the respective football federations and their club representatives on Friday.
Bashundhara Kings have already been placed in Group E (South Zone) along with Chennai City SOCCER TEAM of India and two Maldivian clubs TC Sports Club, Maziya Sports and Recreation Club. Teams played one match each on first match day on March 11 two days after AFC froze its ongoing season for indefinite period in the wake of the pandemic worldwide. Remaining matches of Bashundhara were also halted.
Kings, which is playing in AFC Cup for the very first time, joined the day’s ending up in their proposal of new registration window before resuming your competition. After the meeting, Bashundhara Kings President Imrul Hassan said, “Meeting was successful. I believe ‘Centralised Format’ is an excellent proposal for the reason that group matches will be completed within 13 days from Oct 23 to Nov 4 at the neutral venue. You will have no visa or travel issues and medical restrictions. We may also get a month to reform the team under this centralised format, one more month for pre-season. So, we will go with it.”
“One of our proposals was opening a fresh registration window. Considering the booters’ contract expiration, they allowed a fresh registration window on August or September. Now, we will in a position to register new booters or even to extend short-term contracts with this booters to set up a fresh team. AFC hasn’t fixed the neutral venue yet. But we proposed to AFC to opt for the venue beyond three participating countries. Because we aren't in the health of arranging any tournaments while India, Maldives have some visa restrictions. So, it'll be better to pick a neutral country,” he further added.
However, AFC hasn’t taken any decision yet. They'll issue the final guidelines and regulations about the format, schedule, venue, dates and new window towards the end of the June, after getting approval from AFC Competitions Committee for their approval.
The 12 matches of the group were at first scheduled to be completed by June 17 but only two matches could be held on March 11 before AFC had to postpone your competition because of coronavirus pandemic on March 18.
Earlier on March 11, Kings thrashed TC Sports Club 5-1 within their maiden appearance in the Asian club competition in Dhaka as the other match between Maziya Sports & Recreation and Chennai City FC ended in a 2-2 draw at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai.
BFF General Secretary Md Abu Nayeem Shohag said, “All the participating sides anonymously agreed to play beneath the centralized format. We can’t hold any tournaments while other two countries India and Maldives involve some visa restrictions, so Bashundhara Kings proposed for a neutral venue. AFC haven’t confirmed anything yet. Hopefully they will confirm it within three weeks.”
