Sabbir strikes four for Kings U-18s in youth league opener

Bashundhara Kings made a flying start in the inaugural BFF U-18 Football League with a massive 7-1 win over Swadhinata Krira Sangha in the opening match at the Sheikh Jamal DC ground in Dhanmondi today.

Sabbir struck four goals while Apurbo and Mashrafee netted two and one goals, respectively, while Rajin reduced the margin for Swadhinata KS.

It happens to be the first time the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is organizing a youth league -- comprising the clubs of Bangladesh Premier League -- which saw its previous three youth competitions in 2013, 2014 and 2019 held in the tournament format.

All 12 clubs were supposed to field their youth team in the seven-week league but Saif SC withdrew themselves from all activities in the top-flight football while Uttar Baridhara Club -- who were demoted two tiers following their alleged involvements in online betting -- did not participate in the last moment.

Therefore, it left only 10 teams to compete for the title which had previously been won by Mohammedan SC, Abahani and NoFel SC.