new Age, 30 August 2012
Country’s new football season will begin with the Federation Cup shield phase on September 12 though poor response from the District Football Associations took some gloss off from the competition.
The initial plan of the Bangladesh Football Federation was to organise the shield phase with 18 teams in three venues outside Dhaka and they invited all district sides to take part in the tournament barring Gazipur and Barguna, who have no elected football bodies.
The BFF had also invited seven Bangladesh Championship League teams, four services teams, six universities and BKSP for the tournament and the plan was to hold a lottery to pick the 18 sides for the phase.
However, only six districts responded along with six Championship teams, two services sides, and BKSP, taking the number of interested teams to 15.
The BFF, however, finally decided to keep the sides limited to 12, largely because of time constraints as they are already behind schedule. It also helped them simplify the format which saw the teams are divided into two groups.
Three teams from each group will qualify for the Cup phase which is expected to start on September 22 with 10 Bangladesh Premier League sides joining the qualifiers.
The poor response from district teams for the Shield phase came as a surprise for the BFF officials, who are often accused of keeping their activities limited in the capital.
District football was a big issue during this year’s BFF election and all candidates
promised to try and give more exposure to district football if they are elected.
Tabith Awal, the BFF vice-president and chairman of BFF’s competitions committee, questioned the integrity of district organisers and said they are only better in making a fuss.
‘They [the district organisers] were complaining all the time that they are not given enough exposures in top competitions. Now when a chance was created for them there is hardly anyone to grab it,’ said Tabith.
Ariful Islam Moon, the general secretary of Nilphamari District Football Association, one of the districts that turned down the BFF invitation, however, held lack funds responsible for their absence.
‘It is very costly to form a team suitable for such a big competition,’ said Moon, who is also an elected member of the BFF. ‘The amount of money the BFF pays is never enough to meet the expenses,’ he told reporters.
Bangladesh Economy 
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