A club from Bangladesh to play in Asian Champions League

A club from Bangladesh has been allocated an indirect slot in the upcoming top-tier club competition of the Asian Champions League (ACL), subject to obtaining ACL licensing, confirmed a Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) official today.

This is the first time that a club from Bangladesh has been considered for a slot in the ACL. 

"The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) usually ranks teams once every four years on the basis of their participation in the AFC Club Cup. And this time, one club from Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) will be eligible to take part in the Asian Champions League (ACL) through the preliminary round or play-off round but the club must have ACL club licensing," BFF competition manager Jaber Bin Taher Ansary told The Daily Star today.

"AFC usually asks the BFF to send names of four clubs – top three BPL clubs and the Federation Cup champions -- for the two slots -- direct and indirect -- in the AFC Cup. However, we do not know how many clubs will they invite for the one slot available in the ACL," Jaber added. 

Meanwhile, Bashundhara Kings emerged as the BPL champions while Abahani, who won the Federation Cup, finished runners-up.