Booters’ camp from May 16

Bangladesh national football team will play a warm-up match against hosts Indonesia on June 1 before starting their Asian Cup qualifying campaign in Malaysia from June 8.

The booters will start their preparation camp from May 16 before flying to Indonesia on May 27 to play the lone practice match in Bandung. Meanwhile, Bashundhara Kings players will join the national camp after their AFC Cup campaign, set to be from May 18 to May 24. 

"We had an emergency meeting of the National Teams Committee and decided that the national camp will start on May 16 at Sarah Resort [in Gazipur]. We will then move the camp to the Bashundhara Kings arena [on May 21]," BFF vice president and national teams committee chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed told the reporters in a video message from London today.

"We are expecting to fly to Indonesia on May 27 and play a practice match against them on June 1 in the Bandung city and then move to Malaysia to take part in the Asian Cup qualifiers," added Nabil.

Satyajit Das Rupu, a member of the national teams' committee, informed that the booters will also have a two-day practice camp in Indonesia before the game. After the practice match, the players will leave for Malaysia on June 4.

Bangladesh will start their Asian Cup qualifiers campaign by taking on Bahrain on June 8 before facing Turkmenistan and hosts Malaysia on June 11 and 14.

Rupu also informed that Spanish coach Javier Cabrera will call some U-23 players in the national camp to assess them ahead of September's Asian Games.

"We are going to start the training in mid-May which would be around three weeks before the first match of the competition. I think it is a good time to develop the players in the camp," Cabrera told the reporters after the meeting.

Asked whether he was interested in including players like Eleta Kings, Obaidur Rahman Nawab, Cabrera said, "We are looking for eligible players who are performing in the BPL and have eligibility to play for the national team."