Kings opt out of Federation Cup

Defending champions Bashundhara Kings opted out of the Federation Cup, citing two reasons through a letter to the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) today. 

The finally published fixture of the Federation Cup had a few changes in it than the draft that was sent to the participating clubs beforehand. Pointing that out, Kings mentioned in the letter that the "Bangladesh Football Federation is not acting with integrity to maintain the fixtures of the competition, they are changing and making mistakes several times with the fixture format to give extra advantages to other clubs." 

According to the format of the draft fixture, Group A teams were to play against Group C sides in the quarterfinals. However, in the finally published fixture, BFF had changed it so that the Group A sides would face Group B teams while Group C teams were to be pitted against Group D teams in the quarterfinal. 

The other reason for Kings' reluctance to participate in the tournament was that the venue "Bir Shrestha Shahid Shipahi Mohammad Mostafa Kamal Stadium is not qualified enough to run a professional level of football competition." 

Kings had earlier mentioned that they would not be participating in the tournament in the said venue due to its low-quality turf.   

The Federation Cup is scheduled to begin from tomorrow with the game between Kings and Swadhinata Krira Sangha at the Bir Shreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur.