World Cupper signs for Bashundhara

Promoted Bashundhara Kings flew in Costa Rica World Cup team's forward Daniel Colindres on Wednesday for the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), scheduled to begin after the season's curtain raising event, the Federation Cup, which kicks off on 22.

Bashundhara Kings, who qualified for the professional football league by becoming champions in the Bangladesh Championship League, have decided to form a strong team which will enable them to make a run for the BPL title.

“We are going to build a strong side with expectations for good results and that is why we are trying to ripen our team with quality foreign players,” Bashundhara Kings president Md Imrul Hasan told the Daily Star, “We have already brought in two national footballers of Gambia, who have been in trial.”

However, Daniel Colindres is not the first footballer to come to Bangladesh and play in the domestic league following a World Cup campaign. Iraqi defenders Shamir Shaker and Karim Mohmmad Allawi and Iranian Nasser Hejazi also played in the country's domestic circuits after participating in the 1986 and 1978 World Cups respectively.

Hasan informed that Colindres will sign a nine-month contract with the side, who will play him in the AFC Cup if Bashundhara Kings secure their ticket to the Asian Football Confederation'ssecond-tier club competition. The Kings also roped in Spanish coach Oscar Bruzon.

As a part of their preparations for the new season, the Kings will play a friendly match against Maldives' champions New Radiant at Nilphamari on September 21, Hasan added.