Abahani face New Road in AFC's inaugural tie today
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
It will be acid test for local outfit Dhaka's Abahani Limited who will be facing New Road Team of Nepal in their inaugural match of the AFC President's Cup football match today (Tuesday) at the Bangabandhu National Stadium, reports BSS.
The match is scheduled to begin at 7pm sharp.
Earlier in the day, the inaugural match will be played between Dordoi Bishek and Hasus NTCPE at 4 pm at the same venue.
Bangladesh professional league champions Abahani Limited has been given the responsibility by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to host the Group A matches.
Abahani along with Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan, Hasus NTCPE of Chinese Taipei and New Road Team of Nepal have been drawn in Group A.
Kazi Shahed Ahmed, director in charge of Abahani Limited said that the club definitely feels proud to represent Bangladesh for the second successive year. "We have completed all necessary preparation works to stage the group matches without any hindrance. Our team is also ready to give their best to qualify for the final round," said Ahmed.
Last year Abahani just failed to qualify for the final round on goal difference despite earning four points from two matches.
Manager Rupu informed that a 25-member Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan have already arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning. Hasus NTCPE of Chinese Taipei were the second team to reach later in the evening and New Road Team of Nepal were scheduled to reach Dhaka in the early hours of Tuesday.
Abahani's coach Rupu said although the strength of all teams would be equal as they are the champion teams of their respective countries, he rated Dordoi Bishkek as their main rivals in the group. He observed that the teams of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are almost of equal strength and last year Abahani drew with a team from Turkmenistan.
He further informed that each team would be allowed to field two foreign players with Abahani picking up defender Samad Yussif and forward Awudu Ibrahim as their two foreign recruits. "We have prepared a team of 24 players and we would finalise the final 23 in the managers' meeting," said Rupu, who is also a member of Bangladesh Football Federation.
Kazi Nabil Ahmed said they have taken all measures to attract the football crowd. There would be prizes for the crowd to be given on lottery basis. And each of the three day the first prize would be a motor bike, second prize is a 21 inches colour TV and third prize is a DVD player.
Besides the club has decided to allow school students a free access to the eastern gallery of the stadium. Moreover, they are trying to take the students of different private universities in Dhanmondi to witness the matches. Even free tickets have been offered to all players of first, second and third division teams, said Nabil Ahmed, one of the vice-presidents of BFF.
The rate of tickets for VIP and western gallery would be Tk 50 and 20 respectively.
The match is scheduled to begin at 7pm sharp.
Earlier in the day, the inaugural match will be played between Dordoi Bishek and Hasus NTCPE at 4 pm at the same venue.
Bangladesh professional league champions Abahani Limited has been given the responsibility by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to host the Group A matches.
Abahani along with Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan, Hasus NTCPE of Chinese Taipei and New Road Team of Nepal have been drawn in Group A.
Kazi Shahed Ahmed, director in charge of Abahani Limited said that the club definitely feels proud to represent Bangladesh for the second successive year. "We have completed all necessary preparation works to stage the group matches without any hindrance. Our team is also ready to give their best to qualify for the final round," said Ahmed.
Last year Abahani just failed to qualify for the final round on goal difference despite earning four points from two matches.
Manager Rupu informed that a 25-member Dordoi Bishkek of Kyrgyzstan have already arrived in Dhaka on Monday morning. Hasus NTCPE of Chinese Taipei were the second team to reach later in the evening and New Road Team of Nepal were scheduled to reach Dhaka in the early hours of Tuesday.
Abahani's coach Rupu said although the strength of all teams would be equal as they are the champion teams of their respective countries, he rated Dordoi Bishkek as their main rivals in the group. He observed that the teams of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are almost of equal strength and last year Abahani drew with a team from Turkmenistan.
He further informed that each team would be allowed to field two foreign players with Abahani picking up defender Samad Yussif and forward Awudu Ibrahim as their two foreign recruits. "We have prepared a team of 24 players and we would finalise the final 23 in the managers' meeting," said Rupu, who is also a member of Bangladesh Football Federation.
Kazi Nabil Ahmed said they have taken all measures to attract the football crowd. There would be prizes for the crowd to be given on lottery basis. And each of the three day the first prize would be a motor bike, second prize is a 21 inches colour TV and third prize is a DVD player.
Besides the club has decided to allow school students a free access to the eastern gallery of the stadium. Moreover, they are trying to take the students of different private universities in Dhanmondi to witness the matches. Even free tickets have been offered to all players of first, second and third division teams, said Nabil Ahmed, one of the vice-presidents of BFF.
The rate of tickets for VIP and western gallery would be Tk 50 and 20 respectively.