No word on coach yet

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) held its ninth meeting of the new executive committee yesterday, without two of the three members of the National Teams Committee (NTC) present. The meeting took quite a few decisions, especially regarding professional football league and other domestic leagues, but did not come to a decision regarding the vacant position of the national team's head coach.

The national team have been without a coach for almost 40 days since last coach Andrew Ord left his job following the team's FIFA friendly in Laos against the hosts on March 27.

When asked about the issue of the coach, BFF's senior vice-president Abdus Salam Murshedy said these things would be decided on NTC meeting while BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag said a final decision regarding the appointment of a new coach would be made public in seven days' time.

It may be mentioned here that NTC chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed, who is currently outside the country, had told media on April 18 that: 'A coach will be appointed within ten days'.

There has been no interim coach and no training camp either for the booters since Ord's departure and all the clubs, except for Abahani, have had no domestic or international engagements in the meantime.

With the crucial SAFF Championship only four months away -- to be held in Dhaka from September 4 to 15 -- the players are sitting absolutely idle, as the new football season will start at least a month after that South Asian event.

Murshedy, who is also chairman of Professional Football League Committee, said that the meeting decided on principle to hold the preseason transfers from the last week of July to August 30.

The meeting also decided that the Bangladesh Premier League would be held between a minimum of five and a maximum of eight venues from the upcoming season, which will start with the Federation Cup in the middle of October.

The last edition of the league was held in a single venue despite demand from sponsors and against the guidelines of Asian Football Confederation.

The number of foreign participants in the league will also be increased -- four foreigners will be eligible for registration including one in Asian quota with three of them eligible to be fielded in a single match -- in line with AFC competitions format.

Meanwhile, BFF higher-ups informed that they would sign an agreement today with Prime Sports for all the rights regarding Bangladesh's national-level teams' competitions and matches.