Clubs not happy with BFL resumption date

The Bangladesh Football League (BFL) is set to resume on March 6, two months after the completion of the first phase of the country’s top-tier football competition, but several clubs are unhappy with the revised schedule.

Following the restart of the league, the Federation Cup will also resume on March 10, after the Professional Football League Management Committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) took the decision on Thursday night.

The second phase of the league had initially been scheduled to begin before the February 12 national elections, after a month-long mid-season transfer window that closed on January 31. However, the league committee deferred the restart, citing the national elections. There were also discussions about resuming on February 20, three days after the planned February 17 restart of the Federation Cup, but that too fell through as several clubs had not returned to training camp.

The revised calendar now means the league, originally expected to conclude in April, will instead run into May. In addition, there will be another significant pause of more than three weeks from March 15 to April 9, after the 10th and 11th rounds, due to the Bangladesh national team’s AFC Asian Cup qualifying match against Singapore on March 31.

“It is good that they finally gave a resumption date,” Brothers Union manager Amer Khan told The Daily Star. “The league will now end in May instead of April, increasing the burden of the players’ payment and camp expenditure.”

Fortis FC coach Masud Parvez Kaiser said, “We are talking about the professionalism in football but there is no reflection of it in the league. It is not a good schedule for good football.”

“Is it acceptable to decide the resumption of the league based on the training of Kings and Mohammedan?” Kaiser asked.

Rahmatganj coach Kamal Bubu said, “As a small team, we are in trouble running the training camp due to financial constraints. Actually, the BFF has long been protecting the interest of big and financially solvent clubs.”

Declining to criticise the decision, Abahani coach AKM Maruful Haque however said, “If other clubs don’t have any problem, then we have also no problem. We will play the way the league committee will ask us.”

However, coaches from several clubs have expressed concern over the mental fatigue of players, many of whom have remained in training for an extended period without clarity over the league’s resumption.