Abahani, MSC in same group

Dhaka Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club (MSC) were pitted in the same group as the draw ceremony of Federation Cup Football was held at Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) Bhaban conference room in the city on Wednesday, reports BSS.

Ten participating Club of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), split into two-groups, will compete in the tournament which will begin from December 3 at three separate venues across the country.

The draw mechanism of the Federation involved ten teams divided into five pots with two teams of each pot and one pot containing three venues.

The group A consists of Bashundhara Kings, Bangladesh Police Football Club, Fortis Football Club, Brothers Union Club and Dhaka Wanderers Club.

While Dhaka Abahani Limited, MSC, Chittagong Abahani Limited, Rahmatganj Muslim and Friends Society and Dhaka Wanderers Club has been pitted in group B.

BPL champions Bashundhara Kings will take on Brothers Union Club at Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla while Bangladesh Police Football Club will play against Forts Football Club at Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium in Mymensingh in the opening day's fixture.

After the round robin league group phase matches, the champions and runners-up teams from each group will qualify for the knock out stage. The final of the tournament is slated for May 2 next year.

This time, instead of the traditional semi-finals, qualifiers and eliminators have been made on the pattern of cricket franchise tournaments.

The winners of the match between the two champions of the two groups will play directly in the final while the losers of that match will play the winners of the runners-up team.

As the Bangabandhu National Stadium is currently under renovation so the group phase and the qualification round matches will be held at Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla, Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium in Mymensingh and Bashundhara Kings Arena in Dhaka.

Although the venues for the group and road to finals have been decided by draw, the venue for the final will be decided by the BFF Professional League Committee's meeting later stage. The Federation Cup matches will be held every week on Tuesday.

BFF senior vice president and professional league management committee's chairman Imrul Hasan, who was present in the draw ceremony, said a team becomes the group champion after a lot of hard work and consistency. This system has been introduced this time so that any club doesn't get left out for a bad day.

He also informed Bashundhara Kings is the sponsor of this season Federation Cup.

BFF vice president Wahid Uddin Chowdhury Happy, executive members Satyajit Das Rupu, Tipu Sultan, Kamrul Hasan Hilton and Syed Hasan Kanon, and BFF general secretary Imran Hossain Tushar, among others, were also present in the draw ceremony.