District football from November?

Saif Global Sports (SGS), the commercial rights holders of the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League, is planning to sponsor district football leagues and provide each applicable district three lakh taka to help kick-start the leagues, which are supposed to get underway from November.

Tarafder Ruhul Amin, chairman of SGS and co-chairman of the District Football League Committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation, revealed his plans to reporters at his office yesterday.

The district league had been dysfunctional for quite a while, but the new committee, under AJM Nasiruddin as it chairman, has come up with a plan to revive it, the idea is to hold the leagues from this November till March next year.

“We have formed a full committee with the inclusion of district organisers. We may not start all the leagues simultaneously; we will start the leagues division wise. Our committee will reveal the complete plan in the first week of November. The plan is to start the process in November and end the leagues by March next year,” said Ruhul Amin. 

The SGS was roped in by the BFF for a five year period as the commercial rights holders of the Bangladesh Premier League. However, after the BFF failed to comply with a several terms and conditions, the company decided to discontinue its sponsorship upon completion of the ongoing league. Now the same company hopes to revive district football.

“SGS has already sent a proposal to the BFF for the commercial rights of the district league. The company will initially provide Tk three lakh each to the districts to start the leagues. I hope sponsors will be interested and invest in the league,” said the businessman, who is also a director of Chittagong Abahani.

However, it will be difficult to revive the leagues' with only money as there is a dearth of available grounds across the districts. Ruhul Amin hoped that they can involve district administrators in this regard.