Budding footballers at the upazila and district level used to hone their skills during the Suhrawardy Cup Youth Football Championship every year, but the tournament was not held over the last decade.
The first Bangabandhu U-17 National Gold Cup brought back the good days for the grass-root level, but the players and coaches demanded the tournament be held regularly in a more organised way.
Along with scouting the top talents across the country, one of the key purposes for the Tk15 crore-budget tournament was to offer continuous playing opportunities to those coming from the national school football tournament, which has been taking place every year since 2010-11.
The majority of the players among the two finalists however, are not new faces in Dhaka; most of them participated in the U-16 Development Cup tournament.
Some like Rangpur’s Nazmul Akand, Apan (Abahani Limited) and Rajshahi’s Ahad (Saif Sporting Club) played in the BFF U-18 Football Tournament and a few also featured in the first-ever Bangladesh Youth Games.
All of these tournaments took place this year.
That is why, perhaps, Rangpur coach Shamim Khan Miskin and Rajshahi coach Mohammad Jahir Iqbal said they didn’t have to worry much about the preparation, despite being informed about the date of the final only a week ago.
The tournament began in early September through an inter-union competition in order to form the upazila team.
“The taste of championship is always great,” said the champion team’s coach.
Shamim added, “You wouldn’t believe how much enthusiasm was there during the union and upazila matches. I experienced it and I believe if this tournament continues along with U-15 and U-20 competitions, we will find many new talents in future.”
The curtain on the inaugural Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman National U-17 Football Tournament will be closed Sunday with the final between Rajshahi and Rangpur at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka at 2:30pm.https://t.co/SpJ0wKycNl#BFF #BANGLADESH #FOOTBALL #BANGABANDHU
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) December 22, 2018
The inaugural edition was held in a knockout format, during every phase from upazila to the national level.
Rajshahi coach Jahir said the tournament would be more meaningful if it was held in a league system
He said, “It would be more competitive if this tournament takes place in a league format and there will be no shortage of quality players if it continues every year.”
