Bangladesh to play Cambodia for SAFF Championship preparation

Bangladesh national football team will play a friendly match away in Cambodia on June 15 as build-up for next month's SAFF Championship, informed National Teams Committee chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed.

The SAFF Championship is scheduled to be held from June 21 to July 04 in Bengaluru, India.

"Our league will stop on June 3 and training camp will start on June 4. The training camp will be held at the Bashundhara Kings Arena and the team will stay at a nearby hotel," Nabil told reporters following a meeting of the NTC on Sunday.

"We contacted a few federations and finally arranged a friendly match against Cambodia on June 15 during the FIFA window. We will have a few days' training in Cambodia and leave Phnom Penh for Bangalore on June 16," the BFF vice-president added.

Nabil claimed that the decision to have the training camp at Kings Arena has been taken on consideration of similar weather condition to India and to avoid travel even though they had the opportunity to have the camp in Saudi Arabia.

"Kuwait's inclusion makes the SAFF Championship more challenging. India are very strong, Kuwait are strong. We have told the coach that this is the most important competition for us this year. There will be a lot of expectations regarding this competition," Nabil said regarding the challenge at the biggest football completion of South Asia where Bangladesh have failed to make it to the semifinals over the last decade and a half.