Published on 12:00 AM, February 12, 2018

Youth policy brings success for Arambagh

Arambagh KS, situated at the Club para of Motijheel, turned into a festive place yesterday for residents of the locality after the team made history on Saturday night by winning their first major trophy at top-flight football since the club's establishment in 1958.

The residents under different banners turned up at the decorated club tent with garlands to congratulate club officials and players for delivering the moment they were waiting for for a long time.

The group of residents gave away small amounts of incentives from their own pockets to the players as well.

Putting behind big-spenders like Abahani, Sheikh Jamal and Chittagong Abahani was not an easy job for Arambagh, which was made up of young players looking to build their career.  The club management went back to its philosophy of focusing on youth to form a spirited team and they became successful just one season after being promoted back to the top-tier. They had also reached the final of the Federation Cup in 2016.  

Arambagh were once a breeding ground for many national players such as Nurul Haque Manik, Jabir Hossain Apu, Ahmedur, Mahbub Hossain Roxy, Firoz Mahmud Titu, Rokonuzzaman Kanchan, Alfaz Ahmed, Ajmol Hossain Biddut, Syed Golam Jilani, Asad, goalkeepers Tony, Dhonu, Shimul and many others under the guidance of coach Mir Mohammad Faruque, but the club had lost its heritage in recent times.

The club came into limelight in 1985 when they beat national-players-studded Mohammedan 2-1 in a super league match.  They carried their giant-killers form till 1990 with youthful sides by scouting players from Bashabo, Shahjahanpur, Khilgaon, Arambagh and Fakirerpool.

They used to be a top-five finisher prior to 1990, but failed to continue their form later and even got relegated from the top-tier in 2014 before returning to the top again in 2016.      

However, after being appointed as the club president in 2015, AKM Mominul Haque Sayeed made a link-up with Dilkusha and Arambagh Football Academy to collect footballers from grassroots for his club, and those players are now delivering results. Even some of the players are being selected for the national team. Last season, Arambagh's Jafar Iqbal and Mohammad Abdullah were selected for the national team and recently, Abu Sufian Sufil, Mahfuzur Rahman Pritom and Abu Jahid have been called up to the preliminary squad for FIFA friendly against Laos.

It is also mentionable that seven players from the current Arambagh squad represented Bangladesh under-19 team in SAFF U-18 Championship and AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers last year and those players were the architects of this success. Hence it seems the club is returning to its old tradition of producing players for the national team.

Last season, the club management spent big behind coaching staff and roped in one of the top coaches, Saiful Bari Titu. This time they signed up UEFA A licensed coach Maruful Haque, who was reportedly paid almost one third of the total expenditure that has been spent behind the footballers.

“We know well how a good coach can educate the players and deliver results, so we are still stuck with retaining Maruful Haque, who worked here with full freedom and there was no interference from the team management,” Mominul Haque said, adding that they met almost all of Maruful's requirements like permanent practice ground, introduction of GPS system, food chart, discipline etc.

Haque promised that they would again form a youthful talented squad by retaining the services of the current squad and that they will not run after big names to form a so called 'champion squad'.