Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) clubs, in a meeting with the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) on July 19, demanded more financial assistance to implement the neutral venue concept in the upcoming edition of the professional league.
The meeting, presided over by BFF President Kazi Salahuddin, at first discussed the proposed new format of the BPL which sees the home and away matches replaced by matches at neutral venues in the upcoming season. The top-flight professional league had been played on the basis of home and away matches in the last six editions of the BPL.
All these times most of the clubs had chosen the Bangabandhu National Stadium as their home venue, but from now on they will have to travel to all the other venues and play an equal number of matches each outside Dhaka.
However, the clubs agreeing to the new format said a lot of money would be required for the clubs as they not only have to travel to the venue outside the capital, but also have to stay there before the matches. It would be mentionable that BFF last season provided a purse of Tk1m to the clubs for their convenience.
However, BFF did not provide any immediate response to the clubs and will deliver the final decision after discussing the appeal in an executive committee meeting on July 21.
The relegation of Arambagh Krira Shangha was also discussed in the meeting and all the clubs agreed to Arambagh staying in the top-flight. The issue will also be finalised in the meeting on July 21.
Uttar Baridhara and Chittagong Abahani, the newly promoted clubs in the BPL, asked for a promotion binding for their new season and BFF decided to bar their 10 chosen players for next season.
