Football season declared over
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday cancelled the remainder of the 2019-20 season after abandoning the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League, that was suspended on March 16 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Following an emergency meeting, the BFF executive committee declared the 12th edition of the league abandoned, scrapping promotion and relegation while cancelling the Independence Cup.
"In conditions of reference, the professional football league committee [PFLC] does not have any right to determine the fate of a league. That is why we needed the emergency meeting. Before sitting for the meeting, we took opinions from the AFC regarding our league. Taking into consideration the judgment of the AFC and the BFF executive members, the meeting unanimously decided to abandon the 2019-20 league season as clubs played uneven matches before it was suspended," BFF senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy told The Daily Star after the meeting.
Following a suspension of the league, the PFLC sat twice but cannot reach a decision even though most clubs wanted a cancellation because of financial issues.
The PFLC referred the clubs' demand to today's executive committee meeting, where nine members were physically present while nine others were connected online.
"The clubs suspended their training camps to stay healthy while many other clubs released foreign players. So we thought we didn't have enough time to resume the league because we have no idea when we can come out of this. That's why the meeting decided to abandon the 2019-20 league and there will be no champions and no team will be relegated," Murshedy said.
It has been learnt that AFC did not give any ideas to the BFF's enquires about the cancelation of the football league but the continental body said it could consider BFF executive committee's decision about the season, which prompted the game's local governing body to declare the growing season over.
Before the meeting, there is a clear debate among the clubs about next season's league. Some clubs wished to play with only local players and others wished to stick with also having foreigners.
Murshedy said that they wanted to begin the next season from September or October this season, subject to conditions improvng.
"If the problem improves, the BFF election will take place and the brand new committee will approve the bylaws of the BPL and eligibility of foreign players," said Murshedy.
