Tabith wants to 'keep Bangladesh united with football'

Tabith Awal, a businessman and politician, swept to a landslide victory in the president's position in the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) elections held at a hotel in the capital on Saturday.

Tabith, a two-time former BFF vice-president and leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party, secured 123 votes out of 128 cast for the top post, with his only competitor, AFM Mizanur Rahman Chowdhury, bagging five votes.

Tabith became the fourth elected president of BFF following Golam Mostafa, SA Sultan and Kazi Salahuddin. It was an expected result as Tabith, a former professional footballer himself, faced little challenge from Mizanur Rahman, a grassroots football organiser who conducted his campaign mostly through text messages and phone calls from Dinajpur.

While incumbent vice-president Imrul Hasan was elected unopposed as the senior vice-president, there was competition among the six candidates for four vice-president posts.

Radiant Pharmaceuticals owner Nasser Shahrear Zahedee (115 votes), Wahid Uddin Chowdhury Happy (108), the elder brother of BNP leader Shahid Uddin Anny, Brothers Union's member secretary Sabbir Ahmed Aref (90) and K-sports owner Fahad Karim (87) clinched those four spots, while former national footballers Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir (66) and Shafiqul Islam Manik (42) missed out.

Fifteen candidates were voted to member positions, completing the 21-member executive committee that will govern the game's local body over the 2024-2028 period.

In his victory speech, Tabith said, "We always believe we need challenge in everything and change is needed. So, we think with the combination of new and old, we can take some new initiatives."

"We can expect modern football and we want to keep Bangladesh united with football. We also believe we can bring happiness through football," the new president added.

Tabith's ascension to power coincided with the end of Kazi Salahuddin's four consecutive terms, spanning 16 years. Arguably one of the greatest footballers of the country, Salahuddin had taken over the reins in 2008 and made lofty promises but failed to deliver on many of those.

Although Salahuddin had managed to keep top-tier football running and had some success with women's football, the show was mostly concentrated around the capital as the district leagues became irregular. Allegations of corruption, some of which were later proved, dogged Salahuddin's regime as sponsors started to turn away from football, further debilitating the state of the once-popular sport in the country.