Dhaka, March 5 (bdnews24.com) – Bangladesh Football Federation president Kazi Salahuddin said the Citycell Super Cup was part of his vision to revive the country's footballing fortunes.
His remarks came during a press conference to announce the launch of the Tk 2 crore- competition at the Hotel Sheraton on Thursday. BFF official partner Citycell will sponsor the most expensive tournament and Nitol-Tata is co-sponsor.
"After being elected BFF president, I was committed to restoring the game's image in the eyes of players, organisers and spectators," Salahuddin said. "I want to prove that football is coming back to Bangladesh."
Explaining his dream to hold the Super Cup, the legendary footballer said, "First, you have to dream before it can come into reality and our committee has almost reached that point.
"We are all set to kick off the event and I can assure you that the Super Cup will be part of our domestic calendar till 2012," he said.
Clarifying the big difference in the prize-money, Sahaluddin said the tournament would lose its appeal if the participating teams thought that they would gain huge rewards no matter what the results were.
"You (clubs) have to keep working hard for the trophy," said the BFF boss.
The champions will be awarded Tk one crore and a trophy while the runners-up will be given Tk 20 lakh as well a trophy. Besides, the other six teams will also receive prize-money ranging from Tk 7 lakh to Tk 2 lakh.
The BFF chief also said they plan to hold a international Super Cup in 2011 with the participation of six foreign and two local clubs.
"If we can arrange a substantial amount of money for the international Super Cup, then it will be easy for us to invite clubs from Japan and Korea."
Tournament committee chairman Harunur Rashid, co-chairman Shawkat Ali Khan Jahangir, Citycell's head of marketing Ananda Rajasinghe, chairman of co-sponsor Nitol Tata Matlub Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.
Rashid said that holding the Super Cup was a challenging prospect but they hoped it would go down well among the football fans.
"We hope that football fever will spread in every village, school, upazila and district through the tournament."
The tournament committee chairman said that they had already taken some initiatives to bring crowds back to the Bangabandhu National Stadium, which will host the opening match between Sheikh Russel and Chittagong Mohammedan on March 7.
The committee also declared that the best player, best goalkeeper and best referee will be awarded a private car and prize-money of Tk one lakh and Tk 50,000 respectively.
The BFF also revealed the entrance fees on match days. For group-phase matches, eastern gallery has been kept at Tk 10, the western gallery Tk 20 and VIP enclosure costs Tk 50.
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