A group of former national players and renowned sports organisers of the country yesterday urged to boycott Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin in the upcoming election amid the slogan “Football Bachao” (Save Football).
The former footballers and organisers spoke in an event titled the same as the slogan at a city hotel yesterday where they also expressed their desire to see changes in the current executive committee.
Among the former players, Golam Sarwar Tipu, Sheikh Mohammad Aslam, Zakaria Pintoo, Pratap Shankar Hajra, Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu, Shamsul Alam Manju, Kaisar Hamid, Wasim Iqbal, Rumman bin Wali Sabbir, Imtiaz Ahmed Nakib, Abdur Gaffar and Shafiqul Islam Manik were present on the occasion.
Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi president Manjur Kader was at the centre of the attention among the organisers while others included Mohammedan’s director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, Manjur Hossain Malu, Abu Hossain Chowdhury Prince, Ashrafuzzaman Sohrab and Nasirul Mallick Pintu.
The organisers blamed Salahuddin and his committee for the downward graph of the country’s football in recent times and also accused the BFF boss of corruption in his eight-year tenure. In Salahuddin’s place, Kader was requested by the former footballers and organisers to participate in the forthcoming election.
“BFF failed to organise district football across the country. Salahuddin’s committee also failed to establish a development plan in eight years,” said Kader yesterday.
Zakaria, captain of the Swadhin Bangla football team, said, “We want to see a deserving person as BFF president. If the leadership of an organisation becomes weak, it doesn’t move forward. Same thing is happening in BFF. There will not be any development under Salahuddin.”
