A potential player deficit in Bangladesh’s second-tier professional football might be on the horizon as NoFeL Sporting Club joins Muktijoddha Sangsad KS and Fortis FC Academy in leaving the upcoming Bangladesh Championship League (BCL).
The decision will be communicated to the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) shortly, according to NoFeL general secretary Shakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan Shahin.
“The club president [former BFF vice-president Tabith Awal] on Wednesday had let me know the decision of not playing the upcoming BCL, though I have taken all preparation to form the squad after confirming 24 players and the coaching staff,” Shakhawat told The Star on Friday.
“We are supposed to make an agreement with players and coaching staff after the national elections,” said him.
After player registration was finalized on January 25, the 2023-24 season’s BCL, which was originally planned with eleven clubs, will now consist of seven teams. The tournament will start in the first week of February.
After its 2012 launch, the second-tier professional football league struggled to draw clubs; seven or eight teams appeared in the first six seasons, while ten or twelve teams appeared in the last five.
“The players will have a difficult time finding another team to play in the BCL by making such a decision,” Shakhawat remarked, revealing the secret that their key backer is Tabith Awal.
In the 2018–19 season, NoFeL competed in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) after being promoted, however they were once again sent down to the lower division. After that, they finished in second and third place, and in their last season, they dropped to fifth.
Although they were relegated from the top-tier BPL last season, Fortis and Muktijoddha withdrew their names from the BCL before the registration deadline.
Managing two teams at the highest and lowest levels of professional football has been challenging, according to Fortis FC manager Rashedul Islam, who spoke to The Daily Star. Not only are we having trouble providing all of Fortis FC’s amenities in the BPL, but we are also having trouble doing the same for Fortis FC Academy.
On top of that, we’ve resolved to return to our origins by participating in the Pioneer Football League in order to train the next generation of players. These two considerations led us to the conclusion that Fortis FC Academy should not be participating in BCL.
Financial limitations were the main cause for Muktijoddha’s exit. The BFF was informed in writing by Dr. Jahurul Islam Rohel, administrator of the Bangladesh Muktijoddha Sangsad Central Command Council, that the organization will not be participating in the BCL because to financial constraints.
Along the same lines, Azampur FC—yet another demotion from the BPL—was going to participate in the next BCL until FIFA banned them for failing to pay their foreign players.