Clubs demand dues from BFF

The Professional Football League Committee (PFLC) of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) called for an emergency meeting today after seven participating clubs of the Bangladesh Premier League submitted a letter demanding due payments of the last season.

The seven clubs -- Mohammedan Sporting Club, Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club, Sheikh Russell Krira Chakra, Muktijoddha Sangsad Krira Chakra, Brothers Union, Arambagh Krira Sangha and newly promoted Saif Sporting Club -- signed the letter, which relayed four demands to the game's local governing body.

According to clubs officials, BFF owes around Tk 2.5 crore as participation money and prize money of the previous seasons to the clubs.

The federation had promised to provide Tk 40 lakh to each participating team before the start of the last season, but failed to disburse the full amount.

The clubs also claimed additional grants from the BFF for events outside Dhaka and also urged for more discussions before finalising venues outside the capital.

However, out of the seven clubs, Sheikh Jamal are the only one that threatened to boycott the Federation Cup, scheduled to get underway from Saturday, if the BFF fails to fulfil their demands.

"BFF is yet to provide us unpaid money of around one crore taka," Sheikh Jamal governing body chairman Manzur Kader said. "We spend millions of taka to form a football team but we are surprised to see the BFF sanctioning a little amount as participation money and prize money. They [BFF] never thought about facilities of the clubs before finalising a venue outside Dhaka."

Mohammedan officials claimed BFF still owes them Tk 70 to 80 lakh.

"BFF failed to clear our dues," Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan, director in-charge of Mohammedan, said. "Moreover they [BFF] are yet to inform us about the upcoming season's participation money which forced us to issue such a letter."

Officials of Sheikh Russell and Brothers claimed that BFF owes them Tk 17 lakh each while Muktijoddha and Arambagh said their dues are Tk 13 lakh each.

Meanwhile, BFF officials said they called for the emergency meeting to discuss the demands of the clubs.

"We are going to sit for an emergency meeting tomorrow [Thursday] to discuss the matter," BFF member and PFLC deputy chairman Abdur Rahim informed.