BFF polls on April 20
The much-talked about elections of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will be held on April 20, 10 days before the expiration of the current executive committee, according to a decision made yesterday at the 18th meeting of the executive committee.
"We are at the end of our third tenure which will expire on April 30. Today's meeting decided to take elections forward to April 20 from its scheduled time due to Ramadan, which is expected to get underway on April 25. We decided to hold the BFF elections before Ramadan because it will be difficult for the councillors to come and stay in Dhaka during Ramadan," BFF's senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy said after the meeting, which was presided over by president Kazi Salahuddin.
Even though the last elections, in 2016, were held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dhaka, the elections this year will take place at the headquarters of Bangladesh football.
"We don't see any risk in holding the elections at the BFF house as all BFF delegates are decent and we all are family members," Salam said. "We have formed a three-member election commission with Mezbah Uddin Ahmed as its head while Mahfuzur Rahman Siddique and Motahar Uddin Saju were nominated as election commissioners."
The game's local governing body will soon ask its affiliated bodies to send names of fresh delegates for the elections in which a 21-member committee -- one president, one senior vice-president, four vice-presidents and 15 members -- will be elected by nearly 140 delegates.
The build-up to the elections has kept the football scene heated for nearly two years before business-man-turned sports organiser Tarafder Ruhul Amin, also secretary general of Bangladesh Divisional and District Football Association and president of Bangladesh Club Association, opted out of the race, leaving Salahuddin, who wants to run for president for the fourth successive term, apparently unchallenged.
Incumbent vice-president Badal Roy, however, declared not to leave the field empty in case no one else comes forward to challenge Salahuddin, who has been at the helm for 12 years.
"A change is needed in football federation's leadership and I think a change will come through the April 20 elections. I also believe the announcement of BFF polls will create hope among councillors and countrymen, who want to see change in BFF's leadership," said Roy, who was a close ally of Salahuddin for nearly seven years.
While there are question marks regarding the development of country's football over the past 12 years, Murshedy believes everything will be judged by the councillors in the elections even though he feels satisfied with the work he has done under the leadership of Salahuddin.
The meeting also decided to start the Bangladesh Championship League on March 28 with 13 teams after accepting the withdrawal of Team BJMC.
The meeting also extended the tenure of acting technical director Stuart Watkiss for three months up to May 30 while also approving participation of 10 district teams, which are playing in the final round of Bangabandhu National Football Championship, for the upcoming Bangladesh Games.
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