Sheikh Jamal invited

Federation Cup champions Sheikh Jamal DC have decided in principle to take part in the IFA Shield in India after an All Indian Football Federation official invited issued them a verbal invitation to the world's fourth-oldest tournament in Kolkata, starting from the last week of this month.
The tournament is scheduled to get underway from January 29 and Sheikh Jamal may be given direct entry to the quarterfinals.
“Someone named Debu Mukherjee from India phoned me today to invite Sheikh Jamal to the IFA Shield and I told him to send the official invitation to us,” said Sheikh Jamal DC president Manjur Kader adding that he accepted the invitation in principle.
The Indian official also asked the Sheikh Jamal president to send the names of 20 players and three officials for visa processing purposes.
Explaining the reasons behind his interest to take part in the IFA Shield, Kader said: “When I was manager of Abahani, I had a dream of beating any of three Indian sides -- East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Calcutta Mohammedan -- on their pitch but we never beat them and had to leave the tournament after the first phase.”
“The objective will remain the same this time -- to beat any of them on their home ground and I am confident that Sheikh Jamal DC can do it as they have a bunch of national footballers and some quality footballers like Sony Norde,” said the veteran organiser.
Sheikh Jamal will be the first Bangladeshi side to take part in the IFA Shield in five years since Mohammedan SC played the prestigious tournament in 2008. Mohammedan once became runners-up in 1995 when they suffered a 3-1 defeat in the penalty shootout against East Bengal.