Federation Cup, the curtain-raiser of the forthcoming football season, starts from February 15 while the Bangladesh Premier Football League, the country’s top-flight competition, kicks off on March 10.
The dates were finalised in a meeting of the Bangladesh Football Federation’s professional league committee yesterday. Abdus Salam Murshedy, the chairman of the committee, said Sheikh Russel’s AFC Cup play-off forced them to defer the Federation Cup. “Sheikh Russel will be taking part in the play-off on February 10. They will be returning three days later and will require at least two days’ rest. So, considering all the factors, we decided to start the Federation Cup from February 15 and it will be a three-week tournament. After the Federation Cup, we will start the Bangladesh Premier Football League from March 10.”
Murshedy added that the Federation Cup will comprise 12 teams with Uttar Baridhara the lone representative outside the top-flight.
The top-tier will be played in two phases – home and away – and three venues – Dhaka, Chittagong and Gopalganj - have been confirmed so far.
Besides these three venues, Feni, home of Soccer Club, Netrokona (Team BJMC) and Chandpur (Farashganj) are also under consideration.
The committee also instructed the concerned authorities, including the clubs, federation and footballers, to resolve all the players’ registration disputes within this Thursday.