Booters’ camp from early Aug
Football is likely to become the first team sport to be back in some sort of activity as Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday declared its plan of starting national team's training camp in isolation after Eid-ul-Azha.
Football, like most other sport, has been halted since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, despite the growing number of cases, some sporting authorities are planning to resume training and football is at the forefront. While cricket's return to training is still uncertain with the postponement of Asia Cup, football will lead the race in resumption with an eye on Bangladesh's remaining World Cup Qualifiers which will be played in October and November.
BFF president Kazi Salahuddin and other high-ups of the federation held a meeting with 27 footballers of the national team at its headquarters yesterday where resumption of the training camp and the payment issues of the players with their respective clubs were discussed.
Tabith Awal, vice-president of BFF and a member of national teams committee, informed media that they plan to start the training camp in early August.
"We dearly want to start an isolation camp (for the national team) right after the Eid ul Azha, maybe by August 2 or 3. We have two private resorts just outside of Dhaka in our strong consideration for the camp. We want this isolation camp to run until before the first match of World Cup qualifiers, which is on October 8 (against Afghanistan)," Tabith told reporters after the meeting.
While thanking the footballers for maintaining their fitness during the break, Tabith promised they would arrange at least two international friendlies ahead of the qualifiers once international flights resume fully.
"We have renewed two-year contracts with head coach Jamie Day and assistant coach Stuart Watkiss while the contracts with the fitness coach and goalkeeping coach are of short term," Tabith said addressing the footballers.
It has been learnt that the foreign coaching staff are not likely to arrive in Dhaka before the third week of August.
However, the BFF did not arrive on any decision regarding the players' contracts with their respective clubs.
Salahuddin said that footballers should focus on preparations for the crucial World Cup qualifiers while the BFF continues to work to resolve issues regarding their contracts, wages, transfers and resumption of next season.
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