SAFF camp on Oct 25, ‘90%’ of overseas-based players likely to miss Nov 5 opener

Bangladesh will begin preparations for the upcoming SAFF Championship on October 25, just 10 days before the regional tournament kicks off in Dhaka, with a majority of overseas-based players likely to miss the opening match.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Teams Committee (NTC) yesterday, attended by the chairmen of the federation’s development and technical committees.

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“We will try to hold a preparatory match either on 31st October or 1st November,” BFF president and NTC chairman Tabith Awal told reporters.

“We think we really need a friendly preparatory match to bring back the team’s [match] temperament.”

Tabith said Bangladesh would have to begin their group-stage campaign without Hamza Choudhury, Shamit Shome and several other overseas-based players, who would not be available until the next FIFA international window opens on November 9.

“For our SAFF's opening match [on November 5], we will not get our full squad… So, we maybe get 90 percent of the players who play abroad after the ninth.”

The NTC reviewed Bangladesh’s performance at the recently concluded ASEAN Cup, with a further analysis expected at its next meeting after reports from the team management and coaching staff become available.

“We are also thinking of continuously making our national team stronger.

“From now on in every FIFA window, we will keep a separate Under-23 team in training and they will also play friendly matches against some country, even if unofficially,” Tabith said.

The BFF boss added that the federation planned to organise tournaments and a training camp in the United Kingdom to identify players from the Bangladeshi diaspora.

“For the future, we are mulling to hold two tournaments and a camp in UK in every year with the diaspora footballers aged 14 to 17. We believe if we do those camps and tournaments, we will get a strong UK-based Bangladeshi diaspora pool for the future.

“Scouting of 14- to 17-year-old footballers will also happen and we will be able to identify who can make our national team stronger in future.”