Former superstar footballer Kazi Salahuddin’s 16-year tenure as Bangladesh Football Federation president is finally coming to an end with the BFF Election 2024, scheduled to be held in Dhaka Saturday.
A total of 46 candidates will be vying for 21 posts, including the all-important president’s seat.
Only Imrul Hasan is left uncontested for the lone senior vice-president post.
Former two-time vice-president Tabith Awal is well ahead in the race to be the successor of Salahuddin against the only competitor, AFM Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, a local district-level coach and organizer from Dinajpur.
Tabith is a businessman and Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s national committee member who contested twice as mayor candidate of Dhaka North City Corporation.
He was elected BFF VP for the first time in 2012 before getting re-elected in the following polls four years later.
He served as the chairman of BFF’s technical committee and also worked in the national team management committee during Salahuddin’s tenure.
Contesting as an independent candidate during the 2020 election, Tabith was tied with Mohiuddin Ahmed Mohi having garnered the same number of votes before a separate poll on a later date declared the latter winner as vice-president.
On the other hand, other president candidate Mizanur was not a known figure in the national sports fraternity when he bought the nomination form recently.
There will be no contest for the senior vice-president post after businessman and sports organizer Tarafder Ruhul Amin withdrew his name at the last moment, leaving current BFF vice-president and Bashundhara Kings president Imrul as the only candidate for the second highest executive post of the federation.
Imrul earned most number of votes among the vice-presidents during the 2020 polls.
The battle for four VP posts is also going to be a less contested one than the previous election where there were eight candidates compared to six this time.
Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, chairman of Radiant Pharmaceuticals Limited, former Member of Parliament and founding president of Jessore’s Shamsul Huda Football Academy, is among the leading candidates for the VP posts.
Fahad Karim, president and CEO of sports marketing company K-Sports, Wahid Uddin Chowdhury, Lakshmipur District Football Association president and councilor, and Sabbir Ahmed Aref, member secretary of Brothers Union club, will by vying with former footballers Shafiqul Islam Manik and Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir for four VP seats.
There are however, more candidates for the 15 executive member posts than the 2020 election with a total of 37 nominees, including current executive committee members like Imtiaz Hamid Sabuj, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, Jakir Hossain Chowdhury, Amer Khan and Satyajit Das Rupu.
The number of enlisted voters as well as councilors got reduced to 133 this time.
The casting of votes followed by Extraordinary General Meeting will take place at the grand ballroom of Hotel Intercontinental in the afternoon.
The candidates
President (1): Tabith Awal and AFM Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury
Senior Vice President (1): Imrul Hasan
Vice President (4): Fahad Ahmed Karim, Wahid Uddin Chowdhury, Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, Shafiqul Islam Manik, Sabbir Ahmed Aref, Syed Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir
Executive Member (15): ANM Aminul Haque Mamun, Amirul Islam Babu, Imtiaz Hamid Sabuj, AKM Nuruzzaman, ABM Manjurul Alam Dulal, Kamrul Hasan Hilton, Khandakar Rokibul Islam, Jasimuddin Khan Khasru, Jakir Hossain Chowdhury, Tipu Sultan, Tasmia Rezwana, Delwar Hossain, Bijon Barua, Manos Chandra Das, Mahfuza Akter Kiron, Mahmuda Khatun, Mohammad Nazrul Islam, Mohammad Amer Khan, Iqbal Hasan (Jony), Iqbal Hossain, Yakub Ali, Mohammad Aklas Uddin, Mohammad Golam Gaus, Sayed Hasan Kanon, Mohammad Manjurul Karim, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Riaz Uddin, Shahadat Hossain, Shaheen Hasan, Shafiqul Azam Bhuiyan, Saifur Rahman Moni, Rawshon Akter Haider, Shakil Mahmud Chowdhury, Satyajit Das Rupu, Sakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan, Syed Shahidul Islam