Footballers in the Bangladesh league have asked to reduce both the SAARC and foreign player quotas to two each. They placed this proposal in a meeting with officials of the Bangladesh Football Federation on Sunday.
Right now, five players from the SAARC region can play as local footballers in the Bangladesh Football League. A week ago, top players sent a letter to the BFF president and asked to remove the SAARC quota fully. They also had four more demands in that letter, but they did not raise those in this meeting. Clubs can also play three foreign players from outside the SAARC region. The players now want that number reduced to two.
Former national team captain Mamunul Islam led the players in the meeting. After the meeting, he told the media, “We have placed a demand to the federation for two SAARC and two foreign player quotas. We hope the federation will consider our demands. We want good relations among players, clubs, and the federation. Since there is a SAARC decision that players from this region can play in each other’s countries as locals, we also want Bangladesh to maintain good relations with SAARC nations.”
BFF Media Committee chairman Amirul Islam Babu said, “We have received the players’ new demands. We will inform the president and the matter will be discussed again in the executive committee meeting before a decision is made.”
The Footballers’ Welfare Association is meant to protect the rights of players. Last week, the players sent their request on the association’s pad. This time, they sent it on plain paper with 20 signatures. This has raised questions about how strong the association is. Mamunul Islam did not give any formal answer on this issue.
