Greetings! Welcome to the briefing of June 2018.

Training begins under new coach

The Bangladesh Olympic Football Team and National Team will participate in the Asian Games 2018 and SAFF Championship 2018 respectively. The Asian Games 2018 will be hosted in Indonesia from August 15 to 27 and the SAFF Championship 2018 will be hosted in Dhaka from September 4 to 15.

The federation has engaged Jamie Day as National Team Head Coach and Stuart Watkiss as National Team Assistant Coach. I am glad to say they have already begun training with the U23 and Senior National Team squads. Jamie Day sees the responsibility as a challenge and will attempt to get good results. I am looking forward to the outcome eagerly.

Elite Female Player Residency Programme

Our female age group of U15, U16, U18 and U19 are all now back in training. The international calendar this year is a busy and comprehensive one. There are both SAFF and AFC competitions throughout this year. Preparations are well underway with a detailed programme of training. We look forward to the tournaments with high expectations.

Bangladeshi kids shine at F4F in Russia

The sixth season of Football for Friendship (F4F) Programme implemented by Gazprom, the official partner of FIFA and the 2018 World Cup, concluded successfully in Moscow.

Bangladesh joined the programme for the second time and was represented by Md Golam Rafi Khan and Rafat Shams, who were selected as the young footballer and young journalist respectively.

Rafi was a part of the Galapagos Sea Lion team, along with his 12-year old teammates from Cyprus, Liberia, China PR, Turks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla where he put on a stellar performance in his role as a defender with critical tackles restricting numerous goals in the qualifying games to take his team to the 2nd position in the group.

It was no different for Rafat Shams who acted as the young journalist and covered all key events on equal terms with the adult reporters.

Barishal Baptist Mission School become champions

Foolbari DS Alim Madrasha (Satkhira) 0:6 #Baptist Mission Balok High School (Barishal)

Pran Milk National School Football Tournament 2017-18 began on May 7, 2018 in 7 venues across Bangladesh, with many schools participating.

Following preliminary and knockout rounds, the final round began on May 30 in Dhaka.

The final, at the Bangabandhu National Stadium on June 7, saw Barishal’s Baptist Mission Balok High School beat Satkhira’s Foolbari DS Alim Madrasha by 6 goals to 0 to win the title.

BFF inks 5-year deal with MP & Silva

The Bangladesh Football Federation has signed a 5-year sponsorship contract with the London-based media rights company MP & Silva where the company will provide Tk 8 crore every year for BFF tournaments.

MP & Silva is an international media rights company with 13 offices around the globe. It manages sports TV rights for a range of international sporting events and distributes around 10,000 hours of programming to some 500 broadcasters globally.

The company’s portfolio includes FIFA World Cup rights, senior European football leagues, Grand Slam tennis, motor racing, handball, baseball, volleyball and boxing.

Finance training for BPL, BD Championship teams

The participants of Bangladesh Premier League 2018-19 and Bangladesh Championship 2018-19 received training in financial management on June 28 at the BFF House.

Samel G. Panthrakil, a consultant of the Asian Football Confederation, conducted the session and touched upon important issues.

New South West Asian football body SWAFF gets green light

In order to develop football, a new football body – South West Asian Football Federation or SWAFF – is set for inception.

Ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, FIFA has pledged its support towards the new body which will include 13 founding nations including, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE.

The formation of SWAFF is expected to help more nations qualify for football World Cup events from this region.

Funds from new football events and commercial programmes will be reinvested in football development to help create a new football sector and culture in member nations that is self-sufficient and fully transparent. This will hopefully help us realise our dreams and potential even further.

U15 Trial

An open trial of under-15 boys was held at the Mostofa Kamal Stadium, Kamlapur, the national U15 boys team for the upcoming SAFF Championship.

It was announced in all the districts to ensure full participation from the grassroots. BFF coaches and officials were at hand during the trials to pick out the best talents.

AFC MA Refereeing project

The AFC MA Refereeing Administration Project 2017-18 was conducted at the BFF House in Dhaka’s Motijheel on June 24.

The project was directed by AFC Development officers Hirokazu Abe and Yeo Ho Yeon.

In addition, Azad Rahman and Sujit Kumar Bannerjee were present as local referee instructors.