Abahani and Mohammedan’s disappointing start to the Bangladesh Football League continued as both sides failed to secure wins in their respective fixtures on Sunday.

Five-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Bashundhara Kings have emerged as the strongest side on paper, assembling a squad packed with 17 current and former national players alongside four proven foreign campaigners, as the two-and-a-half-month-long transfer window closed on Thursday night.

Six-time Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Abahani began preparations for the AFC Challenge League with much vigor in the middle of last month, bolstered by new signings and the expectation of three foreign recruits joining the club.

Mohammedan Sporting Club has decided not to renew the contract of club captain and prolific striker Souleymane Diabate for the upcoming season after the club refused to meet the Malian’s wage demands.

I'm so happy. After six long years at Mohammedan, I’ve made it and we’ve won the league. So Alhamdulillah, we are champions. I was fighting for this one for so long.

Mohammedan have done the seemingly impossible, beating heavily-favoured Abahani in the final of the Federation Cup on Tuesday to end a barren run stretching nine years. It has evoked widespread euphoria among the club's supporters and former players, with some referring to the success as a turning point in the fortunes of the most decorated football club in the country.

Talking to a media on Wednesday, Diabate said, “I would be happy to play for Bangladesh.”

Soon after the presentation ceremony was over following the pulsating Federation Cup final in Cumilla yesterday, Mohammedan captain Souleymane Diabate ran up the stairs with two trophies in his hands --one for the top-scorer and another for the player of the tournament -- and a crest for becoming the most valuable player of the final. He walked into the dressing room, where the Mohammedan players were revelling following a pulsating win over arch-rivals Abahani.