Gold Cup opener in Sylhet, final in Dhaka

After burning a lot of midnight oil the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) on Thursday announced the new season will kick-start with the invitational Bangabandhu Gold Cup.

The six-nation invitational football tournament will commence on January 29 at Sylhet with hosts Bangladesh facing Malaysia.

Sylhet, one of two venues, has already won the BFF hearts by attracting a full-house during an international friendly last year.

Country's premier venue Bangabandhu National Stadium will play host to the February 8 final.

"Holding the Bangabandhu Gold Cup has been a dream for us. And despite a lot of difficulties due to tight domestic and international schedules of the invited national teams, we have not only convinced them to take part in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup once, but for five successive years and it is a great pleasure for me and the football federation," said BFF president Kazi Salahuddin after the logo unveiling and groupings at a city hotel.

Holding of the third edition of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup had been limited to discussions for last two years since Salahuddin reclaimed the presidency for a second successive term and it finally came true after frantic activities home and abroad from the BFF boss. The last time the event took place in 1999 featured 12 teams.

"We had completed the groupings of the tournament in Melbourne [during the AFC Congress on January 9] after discussing it with the participating teams," explained Salahuddin.

"I will be happy if Bangladesh play the final, but the reality is that our target is to qualify for the semifinal first and then think of the final," added the BFF boss.

According to the groupings disclosed yesterday, Bangladesh will lead Group A that also includes Sri Lanka.

Group B is comprised of Thailand, Bahrain and Singapore.

Out of the nine games, four, including a semifinal, will take place in Sylhet.

Earlier, chief guest Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith unveiled the logo featuring the face of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Bangladesh national team's interim coach Saiful Bari Titu believes Bangladesh have been placed in an easy group compared to the other group, but they must work hard to reach the semifinals.

"It is always difficult to win international matches whether it is against easy or strong opponents," said Titu. "We have good experience as we played against Sri Lanka recently and we also know about Malaysia, who are considered the favourites in the group. But our target will be to top the group as we want a comparatively easy opponent in the semifinal."

Echoing the sentiments of Titu, captain Mamunul Islam said, "We don't have any alternative but to perform better if we want to play the semifinal, as both Malaysia and Sri Lanka are good teams."