BPL football returns to six venues

Bangladesh Premier League football will finally be played in six venues across the country as the Bangladesh Football Federation released a new fixture on Monday.

The six venues are- - Bashundhara Kings Arena, Sylhet District Stadium, Bir Shrestha Flt Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Stadium in Gopalganj, Muktijuddho Sriti Stadium in Rajshahi, and Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla.

The season was supposed to start with six venues but was later reduced to three, which were Bashundhara Kings Arena, Shahid Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi, Gazipur, and Bir Shrestha Flt Lt Matiur Rahman Stadium in Munshiganj.

But after a disagreement between BFF and Kings, the Kings Arena was scrapped and the league started on only two stadiums.

After their first match in the league at Shahid Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium in Tongi, Gazipur, which ended in a shock defeat to Swadhinata KS, Kings said that they would complain to FIFA for the substandard quality of the playing field.

Later, Kings said that they would go on and complain to the Court of Arbitration for Sports for being stripped of the chances of playing at their home venue.

But that does not seem necessary anymore as they have got the rights back to play at their home ground. They will play the first match at their home ground on February 17 against Bangladesh Police FC.

But a Kings official, seeking anonymity, said that they would keep the matter under observation.

“We will not file the complaint to CAS right now like we were planning to. But we will keep things under observation. Because under BFF, you never know when things go south,” he said.

He added, “The final decision on whether or not we will file the complaint will be decided by the Chairman of the Bashundhara Group.”