The Bangladesh Football Federation organised AFC Grassroots Football Day and World Football Day 2026 programmes across five venues on Saturday, with one of the major events taking place at Shams-ul-Huda Football Academy in Jashore.
Young boys and girls joined football festival activities at the academy, where Bangladesh Parliament Speaker Major (Retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed attended as chief guest. BFF vice-president and academy founder president Nasser Shahrear Zahedee also joined the programme alongside Argentine ambassador Marcelo Carlos and Pakistan trade and investment attaché Zayan Aziz. BFF president Tabith Awal chaired the event.
Zahedee welcomed the guests and said the Speaker’s presence would encourage young footballers at the academy.
Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad spoke about his personal connection with Jashore and football during the programme. “Coming here took me back to my younger days after seeing these children. Jessore is one of my favourite cities. I fought in Jessore Cantonment during the war and worked here for two and a half years early in my career.”
He also praised the academy project and its founder. “If we had 10 sports organisers like Zahedee , we would have moved much closer to the World Cup by now.”
Tabith Awal thanked the Speaker for attending and repeated BFF’s plan to strengthen grassroots football development. “Our plan includes bringing coaches from Argentina and sending talented players to Argentina.”
The Argentine ambassador expressed satisfaction with the academy facilities during the visit and said he hoped future footballers would emerge from the project.
The academy sits in Hamidpur, a few kilometres outside Jashore city. BFF continues to expand grassroots activities as part of its long-term development programme for boys’ and girls’ football across Bangladesh.
