The opening professional football tournament of the 2015-16 season, the Independence Cup is scheduled to kick off on March 30, confirmed the Bangladesh Football Federation.
A meeting of the professional football league committee, presided over by BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy was held yesterday at the BFF House where the decision was taken.
The committee also decided to defer the date of the local players’ transfer window yet again and this time, it was pushed back by a month. The registration of the local players has now been extended to March 20 instead of the previous deadline of February 28.
The foreign players’ transfer window, on the other hand, will conclude on March 31.
The Independence Cup has been a regular fixture in domestic football for the last few years with the only exception of the 2014-15 season. Owing to the Bangladesh team’s international assignments, the last edition was not held.
The curtain-raiser of Bangladesh football was further pushed towards uncertainty following the emergence of tournaments like the Bangabandhu Gold Cup and Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup.
The BFF however, intervened yesterday, resurrecting the tournament’s future prospects. A total of 12 clubs will take part in this year’s edition and all the matches will be held at Bangabandhu National Stadium and Kamalapur Stadium. The fixtures are yet to be finalised.
