BFF extends deadline again for Kings, Abahani

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) on Wednesday extended the deadline by another four days, until August 15, for reigning Bangladesh Football League (BFL) champions Bashundhara Kings, runners-up Abahani and minnows Fakirerpool Young Men’s Club to submit their club licensing documents. All three clubs are currently serving registration bans imposed by FIFA.

“The extension of the submission of the club licensing documents is in process, and it is likely to be extended by a minimum of four days to a maximum of six days [until August 17] from the last deadline,” said BFF General Secretary Emran Hossain.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The extension of the deadline for submitting club licensing documents means the BFF will also have to revise the players’ registration deadline.

As per the previous decision, participating clubs can field players signed by August 13 in the first two rounds of the BFL and Federation Cup. Players signed by September 3 will be eligible to play in the remaining league and Federation Cup matches.

This is the third time that the game’s governing body in the country has extended the deadline for submitting club licensing documents, particularly after the three BFL clubs failed to submit the required documents by the original August 4 deadline.

Read more

Kings, Abahani, FYMC get more time to save season

Although the BFF had previously stated that the deadline would not be extended beyond August 11, none of the three clubs -- Kings, Abahani and Young Men’s Club -- could have their registration suspensions lifted by Tuesday. Instead, defending champions Kings received two more registration bans on Tuesday.

Under the licensing regulations, no club can secure a club licence while having overdue payments from the previous season, making it ineligible to participate in the BFL.

Abahani, however, on Tuesday sought permission to complete the club licensing process by submitting documents proving that they had paid their outstanding dues to players. They have yet to receive a response from the game’s governing body.

“As we had already sent the payment to the third and last player a few days ago, we waited for the ban to be withdrawn by FIFA until 11:55pm Tuesday before sending a letter to the BFF with the payment documents, requesting them to allow us to complete the club licensing,” Abahani manager Satayjit Das Rupu told The Daily Star.

He added that the club communicated with the player's lawyer on Wednesday, who informed them that the lawyer was yet to receive the bank notification.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Kings management is trying to have their bans lifted by resolving 14 ongoing cases.