The long-awaited Bangabandhu Gold Cup international football tournament is finally taking shape as the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is all but set to sign a sponsorship deal with a private channel in the coming days.
“Channel 9 will be the prime sponsor of the international tournament and they will also possess the TV rights to the tournament in return of Tk 6 crore per tournament. We are going to sign a five-year deal with them by Saturday,” said Murshedy.
If the contract is signed for the specified amount, then it would be a welcome boost to the BFF, who are going through a financial crisis, which was one of the reasons behind the delay of the Gold Cup. Another welcome monetary boost will come in the form of gate receipts, which the BFF will have to right to pocket.
The BFF high ups have reiterated the names of the six participating nations -- Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Bahrain, Laos and hosts Bangladesh – though they are yet to get the official confirmation from those countries.
Salam Murshedy said that the BFF expects to get their final nods from the participants by November 10 as an emergency executive meeting at the BFF house yesterday took the decision to hold the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in third week of January next year.  
The BFF has also planned to stage the international tournament in two cities which will consist of Dhaka and another venue outside of the capital, which is yet to be confirmed.