BPL postponed indefinitely
Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday postponed the Bangladesh Premier League for an indefinite period due to the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country.
The decision was taken yesterday at an emergency meeting of the professional football league committee, which on March 17 postponed the league committee till March 31 following an instruction of the youth and sports ministry.
The local game's governing body yesterday sat again with representatives of the participating clubs to extend the postponement of the league for another one or two months, but the clubs wanted indefinite postponement because of the uncertainty surrounding the spread of coronavirus across the country.
"You all know the whole world, including Bangladesh, has been affected by coronavirus. On March 17, we postponed the league till March 31 and today [Tuesday] we discussed the matter with the representatives of the respective clubs and took a unanimous decision to suspend the league indefinitely until the coronavirus situation improves across the country and the world," said BFF senior Vice-President Abdus Salam Murshedy after the meeting at the BFF House.
Murshedy also said that all types of football competitions organised by BFF will remain halted for an indefinite period.
Representatives of the 13 clubs, except those of Bashundhara Kings and Mohammedan SC, attended the meeting and demanded the indefinite suspension as the clubs were uncertain about whether to release all players or resume training.
"No one can give the instruction of the resumption of the league at the moment, the situation has been deteriorating day by day and there is no guarantee when it will improve. That's why the clubs wanted the suspension of the league for an indefinite time," said Abahani manager Satyajit Das Rupu.
"Some clubs have been uncertain about whether to release players, while other clubs were going to restart their training camp after a few days' break and the clubs and the committee together took the decision to suspend for an indefinite time," said Rupu, adding that they would discuss with their foreign coaches and foreign players to fix the next course of action for them as the local players have already stopped training.
Murshedy later said that they would call another meeting of the professional football league committee to decide on the fate of the league if the situation improves in the near future.
Comments