BFF's fixture faux pas
The lack of professionalism from Bangladesh Football Federation set an unprecedented incident in the top-tier football in Bangladesh after Chittagong Abahani opted not to appear for their match of the Independence Cup football tournament at the Bangabandhu National Stadium yesterday.
Chittagong Abahani were scheduled to take on Sheikh Russel KC in the Group B opener but three hours before the start of the match, BFF informed that Chittagong would not participate in the tournament due to unavoidable circumstance.
However, in their defence, the club claimed they never consented to taking part in the tournament in the first place.
“We were informed about the tournament but we never said that we were going to take part in the tournament. So, keeping us in the tournament fixture was a fault of BFF, and not ours,” said Chittagong Abahani's football committee chairman Jamiruddin Bulu.
Explaining the reason behind not taking part in the tournament, Bulu said they released all their players after the first-leg of Bangladesh League due to financial constraints. Even their camp is closed and they could not assemble the players most of whom are from the Jessore-Khulna region.
The absence of Chittagong Abahani meant both Sheikh Russel and Mohammedan SC qualified for the quarterfinals who they will now face each other for a place-deciding game on April 16.
Coordinator of the tournament Harunur Rashid also admitted that Chittagong Abahani did not ensured their participation but it was BFF that kept the club in the tournament assuming all the clubs of the Bangladesh League would take part.
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