Domestic season start uncertain despite BFF assurance

Despite Bangladesh Football Federation president Tabith Awal’s promise to roll out domestic competitions according to the previously announced schedule, uncertainty looms over the start of the 2026-27 football season.

The season was scheduled to begin with a one-off Challenge Cup on August 21, followed by the Federation Cup on August 25 and Bangladesh Football League (BFL) on August 28.

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With only four days left before the scheduled start, the 13 professional league clubs are in different situations. Bashundhara Kings, Abahani and Fakirerpool Young Men's Club are still struggling to lift their FIFA transfer bans, Fortis FC and Bangladesh Police FC are ready to begin their campaigns, while most clubs have yet to start pre-season preparations or assemble their squads.

“I want to clear up the confusion that the transfer window will close on September 3 after it started in June. No change in the transfer window has been made so far, though we extended the deadline for the submission of club licensing documents for three clubs that have outstanding payments to players,” BFF president Tabith Awal told reporters after meeting club representatives yesterday.

“We want to start the Federation Cup and BFL in the latter part of August, and today [Monday] we discussed it with the clubs’ representatives and asked them to start the process of player registration. We can single out the number of participating teams after August 19, as we don’t want to change the starting time of the Federation Cup and League,” he added.

A source present at the meeting, seeking anonymity, said Kings sought seven working days to resolve their remaining 10 cases after settling four, while Abahani remained silent as they await clearance after more than a week despite clearing a major portion of their dues to a Syrian player.

The source also said Rahmatganj MFS proposed starting the season after the FIFA September-October window, while Brothers Union, Rahmatganj and Mohammedan SC requested solutions to issues they had raised with the BFF president.

Replying to a query, Awal later said the season would not begin with the one-off Challenge Cup, which may be held later in the season under a different name.

National coach Thomas Dooley’s concerns over reduced playing time for national players ahead of the FIFA window and SAFF Championship were also raised, but the BFF boss said he had no official information on the matter.