The Bangladesh Football Federation will introduce Bangamata U-18/U-19 Women’s Gold Cup international tournament from this year while setting the new kick-off date for Bangladesh Premier League on January 18, informed the new calendar for 2019 that was revealed on Tuesday.
The men’s edition of Bangabandhu Gold Cup was introduced in 1996 and five editions of the tournament have so far been hosted by the BFF. Like its previous edition last year, Bangamata Gold Cup is also likely to feature six international teams in the first week of April, said BFF boss Kazi Salahuddin to the reporters.
The federation sent a draft fixture of the top-flight league to the 13 clubs where it was mentioned that the first phase of the top-flight league will be held from January 18 to April 30 while the second phase takes place from May 10 and August 10. The clubs are asked to reply their feedback by Friday as the fixture will be finalized after that.
The draft fixtures include BFF’s initially revealed eight venues – Dhaka, Sylhet, Chittagong, Mymensingh, Gopalganj, Nilfamari, Faridpur and Noakhali. Sylhet DFA recently informed the BFF that they can’t host but Salahuddin was adamant to roll the league matches in the north-eastern city considering the crowd interest.
The kick-off date for Bangladesh Championship League was also set on February 4 while the players’ transfer window for the second-tier league will be open from January 5. The BFF’s domestic activities of 2019 also include Pioneer U-15 League (March-April), BFF U-18 National Championship (January-February), second division league (January-March), first division league (April-June), third division league (July-September), JFA U-14 Women’s National Championship (April-May), BFF U-18 Tournament for BCL clubs (July-August) and BFF U-18 Tournament for BPL clubs (August-September).
