BPL to begin Jan 18

The Bangladesh Premier League will get underway on January 18 with the participation of 13 clubs playing at six different venues across the country instead of the previously proposed eight.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the professional football league committee, which also agreed to reduce the duration of the country's top-tier professional football league in line with demands from participating clubs.

at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) House yesterday.

"We had prepared a draft fixture with eight venues but two of them are not available at the moment and more time is needed to prepare the Faridpur venue. So we decided to hold the league at six venues in Dhaka, Gopalganj, Nilphamari, Noakhali and Sylhet," said league committee chairman and BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy after the meeting.

"We initially thought of having three matchdays a week, but now there will be four matchdays a week so clubs can cut down on expenditure. We are hoping to complete the league by mid-July," said Murshedy.

Ending the league in mid-July means that the duration has been cut down by only three weeks compared to the draft fixture, which scheduled the league to end on August 10, and that matches would be affected by the rainy season.

However Murshedy believed rain would not be an obstacle to holding matches as they have now six venues, unlike the previous season when they had only one.

Muktijoddha Sangsad, Sheikh Russel KC, Team BJMC, Bashundhara Kings and NoFeL SC selected home venues outside the capital, while the eight others made their home venue the Bangabandhu National Stadium, which will host the opening match between Abahani and NoFel SC on January 10.