Cash flows after BFF’s late signal

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has come under severe scrutiny from all fronts after their financial shortcomings -- amounting to around 80-90 lac, according to BFF general secretary -- resulted in the national women's team to sit out of the Paris Olympics qualifiers this week.

Recently, the reigning SAFF champions reportedly staged a protest after being denied their salary.

In the midst of backlash, BFF vice-president Ataur Rahman Manik deposited Tk 50 lakh at BFF account yesterday, and fulfiled the promise he made following SAFF triumph in September last year.

"I wanted to pay out soon after their arrival from Nepal but the federation requested me to wait for some days, so that they can disburse it with other promised money among the players. Today [Sunday] I deposited it to the BFF account because the criticism over the promised money has surfaced again," Manik told The Daily Star from Canada yesterday.

He added, "The BFF will decide whether they will distribute the money among the players or spend it behind other areas concerning the women's team."

Moreover, the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and BFF senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy had promised to award Tk 50 lakh each to the women's footballers and they are also reportedly ready to disburse it once they get BFF's signal.

Earlier the BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag said: "There was no shortage of effort from us to send the women's team to Myanmar but we could not manage the required money of approximately Tk 80-90 lakh in three to four weeks."