Because the teams in the Bangladesh Premier League do not yet have any kind of regular youth development program, three of the best clubs in the country have been keeping an eye out for talented kids at the BFF Elite Academy in preparation for the next season.
Mohammedan, Sheikh Russel, and Brothers Union have recently made formal requests to the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) for four, seven, and ten players, respectively. In their requests, each club also included the offer prices that they were willing to pay for the players. The players’ transfer window for the top-tier has been open since August 1. It’s interesting to note that three different teams have a need for seven of the 15 players, which is what prompted the BFF development committee to suggest holding an open bidding procedure for the players.
“Brothers Mohammedan and Sheikh Russel have sent letters, requesting permission to release fifteen BFF Elite Academy players to play for their respective teams. Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan Manik, the vice president of the Bangladesh Football Federation and head of the development committee, informed the Daily Star yesterday following a meeting of the committee that seven of those players are being pursued by all three clubs.
“There will be questions raised if the committee distributes players as per their requirement, so we decided to put the players through an opening process.” “If the committee distributes players as per their requirement, there will be questions raised.” Manik also said that the team that placed the highest price will get a player on loan for the next season.
According to what we’ve heard, the clubs wanted to acquire the players for an average of 6.2 lakh taka, but the committee could decide to set a floor price for each player based on what the teams wanted to pay. If BFF is successful in selling all 15 players for an average of Tk 6.5 lakh, the organization would earn close to Tk one crore.
Following the launch of BFF Elite Academy in 2021, the players have spent the last two seasons competing as a team in the Bangladesh Championship League, which is the second tier of competition in Bangladesh. They are scheduled to compete in the league for the third time in 2023–2024. Sheikh Russel wanted a few academy players to play for them in the previous season, but the game’s local governing body did not release the players, despite the fact that it released forward Mirajul Islam in the 2021-22 season for Mohammedan for Tk 10 lakh. Sheikh Russel wanted the academy players to play for them.
It has come to light that the BFF handed away thirty percent of the whole cash to Mirajul; however, it is possible that the BFF will give away forty percent of the total release price to the players this time around.
When Manik was asked if the academy would have trouble forming its roster for the BCL if they release 15 elite players, he responded by saying, “We now have 63 players at academy, and there is little difference in quality among the players since we regularly fire and hire players based on the basis of their performance.” We shouldn’t have any trouble putting together a strong team for the BCL.
“We anticipate that over the next four to five years, we will be able to supply great players from the academy for the national team; but, in order to do so, we will need to sustain the operations of the academy. According to Manik’s opinion, “giving players to clubs on load will help us financially so that we can continue our activities in the coming days.”