The Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football will be telecast live across all the six participating countries through Fox Sports and Channel 9, giving the much-awaited 11-day event a true international flavour. The tournament kicks off this Thursday in Sylhet with hosts Bangladesh taking on Malaysia in the opener. Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bahrain and Singapore are the other participating teams.
The details and sponsors of the tournament were officially announced by the Bangladesh Football Federation through a press conference at BFF House yesterday in the presence of Enayetur Rahman Bappi and federation president Kazi Salahuddin.
BFF chief Salahuddin was overwhelmed by the response of the sponsors and said, “With the presence of such admirable personalities I see a bright future for Bangladesh football and I hope the bonding will continue.”
AB Bank is the presenting sponsor of the mega event while Ha-Meem Group, National Bank and Modhumoti Bank are the official partners. Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Novo Air are the international and domestic airlines partners respectively while Muskan is the beverage partner.
AK Azad, managing director of Ha-Meem Group, expressed his desire of uplifting the standard of football in the country saying, “The revival of Bangabandhu Gold Cup after 16 years is a good omen for football. BFF has to take the required steps to uplift the standard and we will be beside the development.”
“We believe that football can revive its glory with such initiatives,” were the words that came from Moshiur Rahman Chowdhury, the deputy managing director of AB Bank, while the managing director of National Bank Ltd, Shamsul Huda Khan said, “National Bank’s involvement with football is not a new one and we look forward to continuing the relationship.”
Bappi emphasised on lifting football to a better level and said, “The local players get quite a handsome amount by playing the professional league. Football is a big industry globally and if we can take the right initiatives, Bangladesh can enter the global industry. Bangladesh will be showcased in all the other five countries through Bangabandhu Gold Cup.”
Shafikul Islam and Mofizur Rahman represented Biman and Novo Air respectively during the conference.
