Actor Zahid Hasan made ambassador for BFF's non-residential academy

With the slogan 'football for heath', the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) today launched a non-residential academy where budding footballers will train for a monthly fee.

Prominent actor Zahid Hasan was named as the ambassador of the academy, titled BFF Football Academy, which will initially admit 80 players aged between eight and 14.

Each player will have to pay a registration fee of Tk 2000 and a monthly fee of Tk 3000 to receive training three days a week -- on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

"Interested footballers can collect the registration from today to September 7. The training for the 8-11-year-olds and 11-14-year-olds will start on September 16 at BFF artificial turf and Kamalapur Stadium," BFF vice-president Ataur Rahman Bhuiyan Manik told a press conference at the BFF House today.

"The academy will make the youth appreciate the value of health and keep them away from drugs and help them concentrate on sports. Besides, we also want to make parents interested in sending their children to sports," said Manik, adding that the academy is not a commercial venture of the game's governing body.

"We are taking monthly fees so that we don't have to bear the expenditure of this academy. Besides, we will have to appoint certified coaches to conduct training," said Manik, who also informed that they will open branches of the academy in Uttara and Old Dhaka, depending on response of their first initiative.

The BFF is also considering picking talented players from this academy for BFF Elite Academy.