BFF polls on Oct 3 pending govt, FIFA approval
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has fixed October 3 -- just five days before Bangladesh's World Cup Qualifying tie against Afghanistan -- as a tentative date for its much-discussed elections.
The decision was made at the executive committee meeting yesterday, some four and a half months after the local game's governing body postponed its April 20 elections on March 28 in the face of heavy criticism amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
"We have taken a preliminary decision to hold the annual general meeting and polls on October 3 at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel with 139 delegates eligible to cast their votes," said BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy, adding that they will write to FIFA again about their latest decision to hold AGM and elections.
BFF vice president Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi said if the government permits and FIFA has no objections to staging the elections, then October 3 will be the final date to hold the AGM and elections.
There had been some controversy surrounding the preparation of the voters' list and a lot of discussion took place about the list at the meeting but it finally approved a list of 139 delegates after excluding two delegates from Bangladesh Championship League sides Fortis FA and Uttara FC.
BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag hopes to get FIFA approval and thus reinstate the three-member election committee to request them to take the next step.
"Bangladesh have already opened everything, with offices going on full-swing, two parliamentary elections took place and the government also gave approval to resume sports activities on a limited scale yesterday [Monday]," said Shohag.
All executive members except Badal Roy, Fazlur Rahman Babul and Sheikh Mohammad Aslam attended the meeting either physically or virtually. However, a decision could not be reached about when to start the 2020-21 season.
"The meeting asked professional league committee chairman Abdus Salam Murshedy to sit with the clubs and players to take the decision regarding the next season," said Shohag.
However, Mohi, also director-in-charge of Brothers Union, has been against the move to start the new season this year, citing the financial crisis of the clubs.
The meeting also decided to resume the women's football league in November-December but the women's committee must talk to the clubs before taking any final decision.
The meeting finally approved the income-and-expenditure of 2019 with Tk 37.3 crore expenditure against an income of Tk 36.9 crore. The meeting also approved an estimated budget Tk 52.31 crore for 2021.
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