Tabith Awal has been elected as the new president of Bangladesh Football Federation, succeeding Kazi Salahuddin, as the BFF Elective Congress 2024 took place in the capital’s Hotel Intercontinental Saturday.
Tabith defeated the other candidate AFM Mizanur Rahman by 118 votes.
Tabith won 123 votes while Mizanur bagged five.
A total 128 councillors out of enlisted 133 cast their votes to elect new executive committee of the federation for four years.
"Tabith Awal has been announced as the president of BFF for the years 2024-28 based on 128 votes," said Chief Election Commissioner Mezbah Uddin through a video message in the evening.
Tabith, a businessman and Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s national committee member who contested twice as mayor candidate of Dhaka North City Corporation, was elected as BFF vice president twice in the past, first in 2012 before getting re-elected in the following 2016 polls.
Nasser Shahrear Zahedee, Wahid Uddin Chowdhury, Sabbir Ahmed Aref and Fahad Karim became the new elected vice-presidents of the federation.
“No job is challenging with this team. We will face the challenges and meet the expectation of the people,” Tabith told reporters after the names of president and four vice-presidents were confirmed by the election commissioner.
“We can expect modern football in Bangladesh. We can expect to keep the people united through football,” the new BFF chief added.
During Kazi Salahuddin’s tenure, he served as chairman of BFF technical committee and also worked in the national team management committee in his time as VP.
The voting started after the Annual General Meeting where the rough probable budget of around 61 crore and 52 lakh Taka for the year 2025 was proposed, but it was not approved by the majority of the members.
It is now up to the new elected committee to approve the budget.
Tabith was distinct favorite in the race to be the successor of Salahuddin against only competitor Mizanur, a local district-level coach and organizer from Dinajpur.
Mizanur was found in the lawn talking to reporters at the start of the casting of votes.
"My goal is Asia, not South Asia," said the president candidate from Dinajpur.
"We have good players across the country but we don't find them," he added.
"I'll be with football until my last breath," the enthusiastic local football organizer told Dhaka Tribune.
With the 2024 polls, former superstar footballer Salahuddin’s 16-year reign as BFF president finally came to an end.
There was no voting for the senior vice-president as current BFF VP and Bashundhara Kings president Imrul Hasan was left without any competitor for the second highest executive post of the federation after businessman Tarafder Ruhul Amin withdrew his name at the last moment.
Zahedee was elected as vice-president after winning the highest number of votes (115) among the six VP candidates.
He is the chairman of Radiant Pharmaceuticals Limited.
He was the former Member of Parliament from Jhenaidah-2 constituency and founding president of Jessore's Shamsul Huda Football Academy.
Wahid, also known as Happy, the president of Lakshmipur District Football Association and a councilor of BFF, secured second highest votes (108), followed by Sabbir, member secretary of Brothers Union club, who won 90 votes.
K-Sports owner Fahad got 87 votes to finish fourth.
Former footballers Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir and Shafiqul Islam Manik lost in the battle for four VP seats.
Rumman and Manik received 66 and 42 votes respectively.
The elected members are - Iqbal Hossain (98 votes), Amirul Islam Babu (96), Golam Gaus (92), Mahi Uddin Ahmed Selim (88), Tipu Sultan (87), Manjurul Karim (86), Jakir Hossain Chowdhury (82), Mahfuza Akter Kiron (81), Kamrul Hasan Hilton (80), Satyajit Das Rupu (76), Imtiaz Hamid Sabuj (72), Sayed Hasan Kanon (67), Shakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan (66) and Bijan Barua (62).
Aklas Uddin and Saifur Rahman Moni were tied with equal 61 votes.
A separate poll on a later date will decide the 15th member between Aklas and Moni.
POLL RESULTS
President
Tabith Awal (123)
AFM Mizanur Rahman (5)
Senior Vice President
Imrul Hasan (uncontested)
Vice President (4)
Nasser Shahrear Zahedee (115)
Wahid Uddin Chowdhury (108)
Sabbir Ahmed Aref (90)
Fahad Karim (87)
Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir (66)
Shafiqul Islam Manik (42)