LGRD and Cooperative Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan will declare the juvenile tournament open.

The matches however will start on June 10 at nine city venues.

But the tournament, once billed as the breeding ground of the capital's football, faces a severe shortage of players. So far only 500 players have registered their names for the 63-team competition when it needed more than 1200 players.

"We are hopeful that the number of footballers will increase once the tournament proper kicks off. This is always a big problem for this event," said president of Dhaka Mahanagari Football League Committee Abdur Rahim at a press conference yesterday.

Despite this short fall, the organisers have increased participation of 15 more teams than last season.

After the qualifying round, ten teams split into two groups will play in the second round. The top three teams will be promoted to Third Division.

Shinepukur Ceramics, which will sponsor the League, will provide Tk 3 lakh out of the total budget of Tk 5 lakh.

BFF general secretary Anwarul Haq Helal and Rafiqul Islam, general manager of Shinepukur Ceramics, were also present in the press briefing.