The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has decided to postpone the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) by two weeks but remained unmoved to consider appointing foreign referees to conduct its important matches as the league is scheduled to begin on February 3 at venues outside Dhaka.

"The clubs have requested us to provide full fixtures with venues after giving a good period to the new coach [Javier Cabrera] of the national football team ahead of two friendly matches against Indonesia [on January 24 and 27]," said league management committee chairman and BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy after a meeting at the BFF House.

Participating clubs in the Independence Cup and Federation Cup have raised serious questions over the standard of the surface at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium and the quality of refereeing.

"The league matches will not take place at the astro-turf," Murshedy continued.

"We aren't thinking of foreign referees because they won't have an idea about who is a big team or a small team and it will lead to another controversy. Rather, we want to stay in the same sequence by appointing and promoting local referees," Murshedy concluded.

Meanwhile, the league committee allowed three more teams – Azampur FC Uttara, Gopalganj SC and BFF Elite Football Academy – to play the 12-team second-tier football league titled Bangladesh Championship League, set to begin on Feb 20.