Bangladesh have been given the rights to host the upcoming South Asian Football Federation(SAFF) Championship which will be held in 2017.
This is the third time the nation will be hosting the championship after they hosted the showpiece event back in 2003 where they claimed the title and 2009 where they made the semi-finals. They will also be hosting the Club Cup Championship which is scheduled for later this year.
An executive committee meeting of the SAFF was held on Friday in Trivandrum to thrash out the final details.
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Bangladesh faced stiff competition from both Maldives and Bhutan but the latter eventually pulled out leaving Maldives as the lone competitor. The SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haq Helel spoke to Daily Star over the phone yesterday where he informed the world of the proceedings, "Bangladesh and Maldives bid for hosting the 2017 SAFF Championship, and the executive committee meeting awarded Bangladesh the rights through discussion as well as based on the opinion of the sponsors (World Sports Group)."
Helel also went on to state that although there was no representative of Bangladesh at the meeting, they have also been slated to host the inaugural edition of the Club Cup Championship which is to be held later this year.
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India meanwhile have been awarded the rights to host the SAFF Women’s Championship in August/September. India is the most successful country in the SAFF having triumphed on 7 occassions most recently against Afghanistan in January. Afghanistan's future is still in doubt though after they joined the Central Asian Football Association.
President of the Bangladesh football federation and SAFF, Kazi Salahuddin was surprised but pleased that Bangladesh have been given the opportunity to play hosts yet again. “I did not think that the sponsors would agree to award it to Bangladesh. I agreed on principle to hosting the Club Cup Championship which was my dream as the SAFF president to introduce in this region like in Europe. However, they have finally agreed to hold the club championship. I will sit with the board (BFF executive committee) within the next 48 hours to take a final decision" he said.
Salahuddin who was unable to attend the meeting in person due to his commitments with the Bangabandhu Gold Cup also informed us that the SAFF and Club Cup Championship will be held in alternate years.
