Top clubs welcome BFF’s decision on resuming BPL
The country’s top outfits welcomed Bangladesh Football Federation’s decision on resuming the Bangladesh Premier League from April 30.
The Professional Football League Committee on Thursday decided to get started on the next phase of the BPL throughout a virtual meeting to avoid fixture congestion in the busy international window.
PFLC said that the delay of the league will create fixture congestion for the neighborhood players and clubs who'll pass a busy time with their international assignments in the next two months.
Reigning champions Bashundhara Kings will be busy with their group matches of AFC Cup 2021 from May 14 to 20 in Maldives while Dhaka Abahani Limited may also play in the qualifying playoffs.
Bangladesh national team may also play their remaining matches of the joint qualification for FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 from June 3 to 15 in Qatar.
“There is no other option here. If PFLC waits for the AFC Cup and World Cup qualifiers, the league will be uncertain. Because we need to pass a busy schedule within the next two months,” said Kings President Imrul Hassan.
“If the federal government again announced the lockdown next month then everything will be over. I believe PFLC really wants to end the league as quickly as possible. They don't want to abandon it again. We trust them,” Imrul added.
Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club Ltd, Dhaka Abahani Ltd and Chattogram Abahani Ltd also gave their consent to resume the league.
“We have continued the camp through the lockdown. If we closed the camp and sent players with their homes then they could be infected by Covid-19,” said Sheikh Russel’s sports director Saleh Jaman Selim.
Sheikh Jamal DC head coach Shafiqul Islam Manik believed a seven-day preparation will be sufficient for his side to play all of those other BPL.
“I think seven-day will do for preparation. We have started our camp and hopefully, we are ready by this time around,” said Manik.
Meanwhile, the bottom-ranked teams like Uttar Baridhara Sporting Club, Mohammedan SC Ltd, Arambagh Krira Sangha said they need a while for preparation before getting involved in the league.
“We also want to play but we asked for another week's time for preparation prior to starting the league. We've called players to come back to the camp,” said Uttar Baridhara General Secretary Jahangir Alam.
Arambagh KS Vice-President Azaz Mohammed Jahangir said they have already informed their players to come back to their camp following the decision.
“We closed camps and sent our players to their homes. We told them to come back to the camp. We were not prepared so we've disagreed with that date at the meeting. But as the majority of the clubs agreed, we may need to play,” said Jahangir.
