A luxurious bus, filled with 40 budding booters, left the Bangladesh Football Federation premises yesterday evening. The parents said tearful goodbyes, but the young booters were consumed by a dream of becoming promising footballers.

“It could have been a memorable day for Safat’s father (Nurul Islam who died of brain stroke three years ago) had he been alive. Safat's father took his son to the football ground from a very early age as Safat showed interest in playing football," said Safat's tearful mother, Shamsun Nahar Dipu, on the eve of the departure.

The bus headed for the BFF Football Academy in Sylhet which will officially take off on Thursday with these 40 booters. Safat belongs to the 20-member U-13 group, who were selected through a country-wide talent hunt programme conducted by the BFF with assistance from the National Sports Council. The other 20 booters of U-17 group were selected from amongst 300 of the Pioneer Football League.

"I feel bad as my mother is crying for me and I have to stay away from my family. But I want to fulfil the desire of my father by becoming a top footballer," said Safat, who is a Class-VI student of Narayanganj Adarsha School.

"It is a mixed feeling for me. I feel sad because my mother is crying while I feel happy that I will get some new friends and play football with them at the academy," said Shakib Khandaker from Bashabo, another booteroftheU-13 group.

These boys will start having their first academic football lessons from Thursday at BFF Academy, which has taken nearly three years to take off after BFF had availed a five-year lease of the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan facility in Sylhet. The 100-student capacity academy has two practice grounds, one administrative building, an officer-and-staff quarter, a gymnasium and a swimming pool.

Even though not all of these facilities have been completed over the last two years, the football's governing body is eager to start the academy from somewhere and take it to the international standard gradually.