Bangladesh plans to invite France captain Kylian Mbappe to the closing ceremony of the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup as part of a nationwide football initiative aimed at expanding participation across educational institutions.
State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives Mir Shahe Alam announced the proposal after a steering committee meeting at the Secretariat on Monday. Education Minister Dr A N M Ehsanul Hoque Milon chaired the meeting, which senior officials from several ministries also attended.
Mir Shahe Alam said organisers hoped to bring Mbappe to Dhaka for the tournament’s closing ceremony as the government seeks to generate greater interest in football across the country.
“We hope it will be possible to bring France international star footballer Kylian Mbappe to Dhaka for the closing ceremony of the Prime Minister’s Gold Cup,” he said to the media.
The government also plans to expand the competition at grassroots level. Instead of staging matches on a single ground in each sub-district, organisers want four or five venues to host games simultaneously. Officials believe the move will allow more educational institutions to take part and create a football festival across the country.
Mir Shahe Alam urged every educational institution to form a football team. He said the government was considering suspending Monthly Pay Order (MPO) benefits for institutions that fail to field a team.
“If an institution cannot form a team of 11 or 15 players, we have to assume there is a shortage of students. In that case, the institution should be investigated,” he said.
He added that even institutions with fewer students should explore alternative ways to assemble a team rather than withdraw from the competition.
The state minister said Upazila Executive Officers had already received instructions to use allocations from the Annual Development Programme’s education and sports sectors to help fund the tournament. Authorities can also use revenue budgets where necessary, while district councils and municipalities will receive requests to provide financial support for district-level matches.
He also called on the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief to allocate funding for renovating playing fields in every sub-district, saying improved facilities would strengthen grassroots football.
