Super Cup in March
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) finally declared its domestic calendar yesterday, confirming that the mega event -- Super Cup -- will be held next month.
Although the official release would be published today, BFF president Kazi Salahuddin revealed that the federation is looking forward to hold an international tournament at the end of this year.
There would be more international events, in May, as two AFC competitions for national team and club are coming to Dhaka.
"As the qualifiers of the AFC Challenge Cup and the AFC President's Cup have been scheduled for May, we thought it would be wise to organise the Super Cup in March," Salahuddin told reporters at the BFF Bhaban yesterday.
The federation has yet to set any format for the proposed Tk 2-crore event's inaugural edition where the top eight teams of the ongoing B. League will compete. The winners will take Tk one crore as prize money.
The BFF, which at one stage had opted to start the national camp in March and bar the country's top players from representing their clubs in the Super Cup, has also moved away from the decision -- which could have been fatal.
No tournament of such a magnitude can be successful or lure the sponsors in absence of the big names.
The national camp for the AFC Challenge Cup preparation will get underway after the Super Cup under national head coach Edson 'Dido' Silva of Brazil, informed the BFF chief.
"The new season will be October 09-September 10 but we are giving this partial calendar (for the ongoing and coming seasons) because we have set our minds on events till December this year," he said.
The next tournament of the ongoing season would be a National Club Championship, which will replace the National Football League. The new competition will involve clubs from the districts.
"All the big events are now Dhaka-based but we need the districts to produce players. That is why we need an attractive tournament for them. This would be the big stage for the amateurs."
The club championship will be held in March-April and the BFF will find time before July to organise the Independence Cup with Senior Division clubs and the services teams.
The next professional transfer window is to open in July and run till August, the two months when football will rest due to the rainy season. The teams will get preparation time in September before the 2009-10 season kicks off in October with the Federation Cup, which will be followed up by the third B. League.
"We are planning an international tournament in December," informed Salahuddin.
"It depends on the foreign federations whether they would send national teams or clubs," replied Salahuddin to a query.
The BFF president also said he wants a team of non-professionals to represent Bangladesh in the Prime Minister's Cup in Nepal next month.
"We want to give the young players exposure as much as we can. It would be the core of our 2011 national team and even if two or three players make the top ranks, I would be happy. Losing matches in this tournament would not matter," he added.
It is expected that national coach Shafiqul Islam Manik and technical director Shahidur Rahman Shantoo would be in charge of the Nepal-bound team and the under-18 camp now at Dinajpur would be the base of it.
"We are determined to stick to this calendar and the two local heavyweights, Abahani and Mohammedan, have already assured me that they would release the players for national interest. We will sit with the other clubs soon and don't think it would be a problem."
The BFF, which finalised the calendar in its emergency committee meeting earlier on the day, is likely to come out with specific announcement about the Super Cup within a few days.
BFF vice-president and National Team Management Committee chairman Badal Roy said that BFF's focus would be to take the Super Cup a top event.
"We the support of media, sponsors and fans to make it a big success," told Badal.
Comments