The clubs are divided over the future of Bangladesh Premier League 2019-20 and are in dilemma whether to carry it out or to cancel it while the BFF has opted to wait until end of May before taking any decision.
Most clubs led by holders Bashundhara Kings agreed to call off and start the season afresh during the league committee meeting on Sunday while two former champions Abahani Limited and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club wanted to continue.
The question is hovering on the footballing community-what may happen if the BPL resumes from the 7th round?
The most beneficiaries are the players who could return to the competition as soon as it is safe to play but some certain clubs may face inevitable financial hardships to continue due to Covid-19 pandemic.
There was a proposal from BFF vice-president Kazi Nabil Ahmed to conclude the remaining fixtures with only the local players to reduce extra pressure from the clubs who on average have to spend around half of their total budget on the foreign recruits. But Bashundhara, supported by some other clubs, opposed the idea citing that there can’t be two different rule for one single league.
BFF can prepare some options for clubs to consider if they want to carry out or not but there has been merely any initiative, rather, it decided to keep the clubs in dark for one more month.
The professional league committee chairman, Abdus Salam Murshedy, admitted that there is no way that the games could return before the month of August. By this time, the initial BPL fixtures would have been completed (July 30) had there been no postponement.
Only six rounds of fixtures out of 26 was played until March 15 with Abahani and Chattogram Abahani being the joint leaders but only three points separated the top six clubs in the table.
The remaining 120 games would require four months and half to conclude according to the postponed fixture which is most likely to see the BPL runs towards the new year if it resumes as early as August.
It should also be mentioned that there is one more professional tournament due this season which is Independence Cup and one more AFC Cup slot to be grabbed by a Bangladeshi club from BPL. If BPL cannot be completed, BFF has to find an alternative.
The situation is almost similar in Thailand where only four rounds were played before the pandemic last month but the Thai FA decided to restart the league in September and end in May on a permanent basis while counting the previous results.
The transfer window of the 2019-20 season in Bangladesh was held in October-November last year while the curtain-raiser Federation Cup was kicked off the following month before the BPL 2019-20 starts on February 13.
If the league is to continue, the BFF has to come up with ideas how to conclude them. It may need changing the rule book and annual calendar. It requires approval of the clubs who have been eagerly waiting for a concrete decision.
As national team head coach Jamie Day too said it’s surely better to make a decision now than keep putting it off for one more month.