The parliamentary standing committee for the ministry of youth and sports seeks to alter the financial demand presented by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) for the development purpose of the game in the country. The BFF in April requested the government to allocate Tk370m every year in order to run football smoothly.
A two-member BFF delegation team comprising general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag and Shamsul Hoq Chowdhury met the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee for the ministry of youth and sports, Zahid Ahsan Russel, yesterday afternoon when, apart from discussing the ongoing and future activities, Russel also advised the federation about revising their financial request and decreasing the amount.
The standing committee also expressed its willingness to see different national teams participating, not age-level or Olympic teams, in the forthcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup.
“We informed them about our activity, development, ongoing project, district football, upcoming concert and lottery plan. It was a lively discussion,” said Shohag yesterday.
“They gave us their observations. They would be happy if the national teams of the participant countries take part in the upcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup. They also feel they need to revise the financial support (Tk370m) we asked for and see if they can deduct any. They also want to see more football outside Dhaka,” added Shohag.
The amount asked by BFF includes the wages of the Bangladesh team coach, training of football in the grass-root level, the national team’s participation in the international tournaments and the organising of professional football league and other tournaments.
Former national footballer, BFF vice president and the deputy minister for youth and sports, Arif Khan Joy and top National Sports Council officials were also present in the meeting.
