BPL to resume on April 30

The Bangladesh Football Federaton (BFF) yesterday decided to resume the Bangladesh Premier League from April 30, one day after the end of the countrywide lockdown imposed by the government to contain Covid-19.

The second phase of BPL was supposed to begin on April 9 after the completion of the first phase of the league matches on March 7.

The league was suspended for one month due to the mid-term transfers and the national football team's international engagements in Nepal before the BFF was forced to halt their resumption plans due to the lockdown starting April 7. Although a few clubs wanted to resume after Bashundhara Kings and Abahani completed their AFC cup engagements in May and the national team's World Cup Qualifying commitments in June, most clubs wanted to play some matches before Eid-ul-Fitr in May.

Taking all of that into consideration, it was decided at a meeting of the professional football league committee, chaired by BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy, to start the leage on April 30 as well as play three to four rounds of matches before Bashundhara Kings and Abahani fly for Maldives to play in the AFC Cup.

The BFF also submitted a letter to the youth and sports ministry seeking approval to hold the BPL from April 30 by without crowds and by maintaining health guidelines at all four venues.