The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is thinking of including an Algerian club in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup in late October in the form of Chabab Riadhi (CR) Belouizdad who have shown a keen interest to participate in the meet.
"We have been considering the inclusion of Algerian club CR Belouizdad in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup after the club president through a FIFA agent told us that they are interested in participating in the meet," said BFF general secretary Al Musabbir Sadi to reporters yesterday.
Sadi also added that the BFF were looking to secure the participation of a marquee club in the competition with whispers stating that it could be the Luiz Felipe Scolari led Bunyodkor FC from Uzbekistan, which also features Brazilian legend Rivaldo.
Sadi said that the BFF would arrange accommodation, airfare, food as well as local hospitality for the Algerian side and provide the match fee as there might be no participation fees in the tournament.
The African club was initially trying to play a couple of friendly matches in Bangladesh through the agent, through whom the club were offered to play in the tournament.
CR Belouizdad who have been six-time Algerian league winners, have earned the right to play in the African Confederation Cup after emerging champions in the Algerian Cup in 2009. They also finished fourth in the league this season.
Top clubs from India, Myanmar, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Iran, Iraq, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia and Uzbekistan are expected to join the country's two favourite outfits Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting in the meet.
The federation already communicated with their different counterparts in Asia to confirm the participation of quality clubs.
So far BFF has communicated with India, Qatar, UAE, Thailand, Iran, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Myanmar but the federation is likely to announce the club names soon.
An important meeting regarding the tournament will take place by the first week of July to take some major decisions.
It was learnt that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave her consent to be chief patron for the tournament.
The BFF general secretary also said that they were trying to bring a French first or second division club's youth team (Under-20 or 21) through a Bangladeshi expatriate, who has close ties with the French Football Federation.
Source: thedailystar.net
