The Sylhet District Stadium, the venue for the group round matches of Bangabandhu Gold Cup, would be remembered for an unreal scene four years ago when thousands of spectators broke the gate to get inside the venue during a friendly between the U23 national teams of Bangladesh and Nepal.
This time, the respective sports organizers are adamant that such an incident would not happen again. The interest among the Sylheti people and the presence of the crowd were also less than in the past during the opening encounter between Bangladesh and Laos.
The stadium, located in Rekabi Bazar in the city, however took a brighter shape for the Bangabandhu Cup. The renovation ahead of the mega event began on September 20. New colours were shed on the gallery and the dressing room was also upgraded to a new look. Digital boards were also added for the first time.
As all the group round matches are scheduled to kick off in the evening, the floodlights were also upgraded with a total 190 new bulbs added to four stands of floodlights bearing around 400 bulbs, informed Sylhet District Football Association president Mahiuddin Ahmed Selim to Dhaka Tribune on Monday.
Selim informed that this time there is no risk of the crowd breaking the gate to enter inside the stadium like it happened on August 29, 2014. The venue with a capacity of 25,000 was over-packed and around 15,000 more gathered inches away from the touchline to watch Bangladesh lose the game by a solitary goal. All the tickets were sold out a day before the friendly.
“It was an unreal scene, which we had never witnessed before. It should have been in the Guinness book of records! But such an incident will not happen again.” Said Selim. He added that around 15,000 tickets for Bangladesh-Laos match were sold by Sunday.
After that friendly, Sylhet hosted matches of two international football tournaments the following year in 2015 including three group fixtures and one semi-final of the third edition of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup and the Saff U-16 Championship where Bangladesh emerged champions. The home side’s matches gathered a huge crowd during both tournaments.