Abahani fly in two foreigners

Six-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Abahani flew in two booters from Egypt and South Korea to utilise their full quota of foreign players in the AFC Cup Inter-zonal semifinal play-offs against North Korea’s April 25 SC.

Abahani will play the home match on August 21 before traveling to North Korea to play the away match on August 28.

Abahani’s foreign recruits are South Korean midfielder Lee Tae Min and Egyptian defender Alaaeldin Nasr Elsayed Eissa. They will join the two existing foreign recruits, Nigerian striker Sunday Chizoba and Haitian forward Kervens Fils Belfort to fill the vacuum left by the injured Wellington Priori, a Brazilian midfielder, and Afghanistani defender Masih Saighani, who is reportedly to join Indian Super League side Chennaiyin FC this month.

“We believe these two players can improve the team as the left-footed Eissa can be a leader in defense and organise it. Lee, who is hardworking and has good stamina, can play in central midfield with lots of energy and play box-to-box,” Abahani’s Portuguese coach Mario Lemos told reporters.