Amin, Imrul to vie for BFF senior vice-president post

With president candidate Tabith Awal expected to face little challenge from two rather unheralded candidates, all focus in Bangladesh Football Federation elections has shifted to the senior vice-president post, where Imrul Hasan and Tarafder Ruhul Amin will vie.

The other candidate in this post, organiser Monir Hossain, did not submit his nomination paper on the last day of submission at the BFF House on Tuesday.

Ruhul Amin had previously announced he would contest in the president's post, barely 24 hours after incumbent president Kazi Salahuddin had announced he would not be running for a fifth term. Ruhul Amin, football committee chairman of Chittagong Abahani as well as the owner of now-defunct Saif SC, later bought nomination paper for senior vice-president post, days after incumbent vice-president and chairman of Bashundhara Kings, Imrul Hasan, decided to contest in that post.

Fellow organisers of Ruhul Amin today submitted nomination paper on his behalf, turning the senior vice-president post into a two-horse race. Seven out of 12 candidates submitted their nomination papers for four vice-president posts while 40 out of 43 submitted papers for executive member posts.

"I had previously declared to contest in the president post, but now decided to support Tabith Awal as the BFF president for the sake of football development and the greater interest of football. I have submitted nomination paper as the senior vice-president post from his panel," Ruhul Amin told reporters at Dhaka District Sports Association premises.

Replying to a query, Ruhul Amin said, "Since October 20 is the deadline for withdrawal of candidature, we are hoping to inform you about the panel by that time as discussion is still going on."

Asked whether he will stay in the election race till the end, he said, "It is quite possible to develop the country's football from either inside the federation or outside the federation and we have been doing it across the country. I also did work for the football development from 2016 to 2021 by staying outside of the federation. It is not mandatory to stay inside or outside of the federation to develop football."

SM Abdullah Al Fuad Redwan refrained from submitting his nomination paper in either president or vice-president posts, extending his support to Tabith.

"I have extended my support to Tabith Awal for the greater interest of football and did not submit my nominations. I think we need Tabith Awal in the greater interest of football because he is more capable than me, and even the other president candidates in the current perspective. Besides, I am a cricket organiser and want to be with cricket," said Redwan.