This is the first time a foreign football authority has sponsored a domestic competition. The Japan Football Association (JFA) came to the aid of Bangladesh in a bid to boost the game at the grassroots and gave 20,000 dollars for organising the meet.

Ichiro Fujita, a member of the JFA who looked after the whole affair from the beginning, has been impressed by the efforts of the federation.

BFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal said yesterday that he was optimistic that the JFA will continue to sponsor such events.

"Fujita was impressed by our efforts and has told us that he will try to increase funds for future tournaments."

Fujita has watched some of the matches and will leave for Japan after the final.

Helal admitted that there have been some flaws in the tournament but thought that they were minor.

"Yes, there may have been a few over-aged players for some teams but we've tried hard to reduce the numbers. Also many players have been scrutinised and rejected since the start of the meet. This is the first tournament of its kind and we hope we can get it right next year," he added.

It was learnt that at one stage, teams struggled to field 11 players due to shortage of players, forcing the BFF to look the other way for the sake of the tournament.

Today's final will also pit the two best players of the event, Feni's Baten who is the top scorer with nine goals, and Barguna's talented striker Mobarak, who has showed impressive skills so far.

"Even if we can find two or three talented players from one tournament, it will be a success," Helal said.