The Development Committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation yesterday formed a sub-committee in a bid to develop the BFF Elite Academy further in its first meeting.

The committee, comprised of three members -- Shafiqul Islam Manik, Sayed Hasan Kanon, Sameed Quasem, and Col M. Golam Mabud Hasan -- will submit its report before the next meeting on February 3.

"In a bid to develop the BFF Elite Academy further, we have formed a sub-committee, which will submit a report after reviewing all aspects of the academy, and we will take further decisions in the next meeting on how to develop the facilities of the BFF Elite Academy," said BFF vice-president and Development Committee chairman Nasser Shahrear Zahedee after the meeting at BFF House yesterday.

He also informed that the meeting decided to build a network among the country's top football academies, such as the BFF Elite Academy, BKSP, Shams Ul Huda Academy, and others, so that the players of those academies can groom themselves properly while helping each other.

"We have also decided to prepare our age-group national teams strongly for May's SAFF U-19 Championship, October's SAFF U-15 Championship, and November's AFC U-17 Asian Cup Qualifiers," Zahedee, also a businessman, informed further.

"We want to move beyond the issue of having or not having funds from FIFA or AFC; rather, we want to see the FIFA and AFC funds as additional support to our development. We think the federation has to find its own income sources, and we are working on it."

Asked whether the Development Committee plans to work with groups of 10–12 players, Zahedee replied, "We think we should work with the U-12 group, but due to different limitations, we had to focus on U-15 and other groups. Working with U-10 to U-12 groups has been in our thoughts, but we need some time to realise it because we agree that we must go to the grassroots to groom players," he said.