Bangladesh Football Ultras continue protest at BFF over ticket allocation

The Bangladesh Football Ultras, a passionate supporters group of the national football team, continued their sit-in protest for the second consecutive day in front of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) headquarters, demanding tickets in exchange of payments for the upcoming Asian Cup Qualifier against Singapore on June 10.

The Ultras, who always make their presence felt during Bangladesh's matches with their black attires, bandanas, drums and whistles, gathered peacefully at the main gate of the BFF, vowing to maintain their protest until their demand for match tickets is met.

The group displayed banners reading "No Ultras, No Football," and "Justice for Football, Justice for Football Fans," claiming they were compelled to organise the protest after the BFF allegedly reneged on its promise to provide them tickets.

"We began communicating with BFF officials 52 days ago, discussing our request to sit together in the gallery and obtain tickets in an organized manner," said Mehdi Hasan Ovi, general secretary of the Bangladesh Football Ultras. "This was after BFF President Tabith Awal had asked us to coordinate directly with the federation during the Fahamedul incident ahead of the India match in March."

Ovi explained that despite multiple meetings and emails, including discussions with BFF vice presidents and the general secretary, the group was only offered 100 tickets, far short of their request for 2,000.

"We initially requested 3,000 seats in one stand, given the distinctive nature of our support, but reduced our demand to 2,000 due to complications with the ticketing platform Tickyfy," he said.

Responding to questions about not purchasing tickets online, Ovi stated, "We were in touch with the BFF well before online ticket sales began. We weren't instructed to buy tickets online, and even if we tried, we couldn't secure a block of seats together."

He also raised doubts about the official claim that the gallery tickets were sold out.

"I personally attempted to buy 35 tickets for my family using 16 different mobile phones, but couldn't secure a single one," he said. "BFF initially announced specific allocations for different zones, but later the tickets appeared to be sold out without notice. How is that possible?"

"If the tickets are sold out, then how were we offered 100 tickets?" Ovi asked. "We believe there are still tickets available or they can be arranged. No BFF official has spoken to us over the last two days. If this issue remains unresolved, we will continue our sit-in even on match day."

The Daily Star repeatedly tried to reach BFF's general secretary Emran Hossain Tushar over phone for comments on Tuesday but he did not pick up the calls.