The second phase of physical conditioning assessment camp for the national booters is going on perfectly at the Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP) in Savar ahead of the fifth edition of Bangabandhu Gold Cup likely to be played in March.
Earlier, the second batch consists of 29 junior booters reported to the national football team manager Satyajit Das Rupu on Friday for the second phase of physical conditioning assessment camp at the BKSP.
Team official Amirul Islam Babu, trainer Syed Golam Zilani, Strength and Conditioning Coach John Whittle and Goal Keeping Coach Ryan David Sandford are working together with Bangladesh Football Federation's Technical and Strategic Director Paul Thomas Smalley at the camp.
The physical conditioning assessment is a new edition to the activity of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).
This year, the Federation began the camp with a new view and a total of 62 booters were selected for the camp and they were divided into two batches.
The first batch, apparently comprised with 33 experienced booters who played for the national team earlier, served at the camp from January 22 to February 2 at the BKSP.
The second phase of the camp that is currently going on will continue till February 12.
At the end of the camp, the coaches and the fitness trainers will submit their report regarding the physical capability and condition of the players to the national teams committee of the Federation.
This year, two teams, one national team and a Olympic team, from the host will take part in the prestigious football event Bangabandhu Gold Cup.
The two national squads for the football event will be formed considering that evaluation report submitted by the coaches.
In the meantime, Bangladesh is going to arrange an international club cup event, Sheikh Kamal International Cub Cup in the port city Chittagong from February 18.
The matches will be played at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong. Along with three local teams, five foreign teams will also play the event. The local teams are two archrival Dhaka Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan and host Chittagong Abahani. The other five foreign clubs also confirmed
their participation. Pocheon Citizen Football Club from Korea, Shaheen Asmayee of Afghanistan and Manang Marshyyangdi Club from Nepal, Trust and Coyar (TC) Sports Club from Malaysia and another team from Cambodia will play it.
The local booters will also keep busy during the time.
Afterwards, the fifth edition of Bangabandhu Gold Cup is likely to be played in March. However, the venues were not confirmed yet.
For the last time in 2016, apart from Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Shams-Ul-Huda Stadium in Jessore also hosted a few group matches.
Bangabandhu Gold Cup is a well-known football event of South Asia.
Once, Dhaka was titled as the 'Eastern City of South-East Asian Football' for the well-known football event Aga Khan Gold Cup during the then East Pakistan period. Countries from different part of South-East Asia used to compete in the event regularly. It was a major attraction of the Asian football fans as many talented booters from around Asia would show their skills in the matches.
However the prestigious football event failed to get the interest of the Bangladesh Federation after the independence of the country. It's heard that the trophy of the Aga Khan Gold Cup is now preserved at the volt of the Bangladesh Bank.
Then, the local football authority wished to hold an event in honour to the father of the nation Bangabandhu who was a good footballer and used to play for Dhaka Wanderers Club.
Till the day, four edition of Bangabandhu Gold Cup were held. The first event was held in 1996 and afterwards it was played in 1999, 2015 and in 2016.
Squad:
Custodians: Maksudur Rahman, Nayeem, Anisur Rahman Zico, Shabuj Das Roghu,
Defenders: Ariful Islam (Jr), Monsur Amin, Biswanth Ghosh, Swakat Rasel, Kesto Kumar Bosh, Tutul Hossain Badshah, Monjurur Rahman Manik, Jalal Mia, Shakil Ahamad, Sabuz,
Midfielders: Mehebub Hasan Nayan, Fazlay Rabbi, Rumon Hossain, Shushanto Thipura, Shahadul Alam Shahad, Didarul Alam, Omar Faruk Baba, Shahadul Alam Shahad,
Strikers: Shahdat Hossain Shahed, Sarower Zaman Nipu, Mannaf Rabby, Matin Mia, Oushi Mong, Saad Uddin and Sohel Rana.
