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BCL RELEGATION REVERSAL

BFF continues bad precedence
ANISUR RAHMAN
Farashganj SC and Uttara FC, teams that were relegated from the country’s second tier football competition the Bangladesh Championship League (BCL) last season, have been given the green light to compete in the upcoming season as well by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) – a development that highlights the absence of a proper structure at that level.
As per bylaws, Farashganj SC and Uttara FC, who finished seventh and eighth respectively in the 2023-24 season, should be relegated to the Senior Division League this season.
However, after an executive meeting on Wednesday, the BFF decided to allow both teams to stay afloat in the second-tier competition, following a bad precedent set by the previous committee.
Earlier, Swadhinata KS were allowed to compete in the 2019-20 season of the BCL in spite of finishing bottom of the table the previous season.
The 2019-20 season never got going due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Swadhinata KS remained in the BCL in the 2020-21 season as well, and shockingly ended up winning the league in that edition.
The reason why BFF can stop teams from getting relegated is because unlike countries which have a well-established football structure with multiple tiers, in Bangladesh the federation asks for applications from clubs interested to compete in BCL, assesses them and then chooses which teams would compete.
So, if a relegated team applies for the following season and the BFF deems them fit to compete, they can return to BCL.
This system has been set in place since the 2015-16 season of the BCL, when the professional league committee headed by Abdus Salam Murshedy started deciding who would compete in the BCL by assessing applications, focusing more on including teams that have a strong financial backing.
Clubs like Bashundhara Kings, Saif SC, NoFel SC, Karwanbazar PS and many others were brought into the BCL in this way.
While some of those inclusions proved to be a net positive for the country’s football, like the current Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Bashundhara, some new outfits got entangled in online betting and fixing controversies like Karwanbazar PS, who were found guilty in 2022.
The BFF has also failed to fix the number of participants in BCL even after 11 completed seasons as the number of teams have fluctuated from seven to 13. There are also no secondary competitions available for second tier teams, meaning other than the BCL season which runs for three-four months the footballs at that level don’t get opportunities to compete.
The fact that the newly formed BFF committee led by Tabith Awal followed the precedent set by the previous committee of keeping relegated teams afloat in BCL surprised and disheartened the country’s football fraternity.
“It doesn’t go with the sporting spirit, they should have relegated at least one team,” BCL outfit PWD SC manager Iftekharul Islam said. “After this decision, the competitiveness among the teams may decrease.”
BCL outfit Wari Club general secretary Mohidur Rahman Miraz said, “I fought against this system for the last 10 years because many clubs, especially blessed outfits, went AWOL after getting direct entries. “I think BCL should be abolished because it has no standard and the federation should reform the whole footballing structure.”