The most interested in the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) election is the post of president. But this time however, that interest is waning. Although four nomination papers for the president have been sold, there are doubts about whether the remaining three will contest in the end, apart from Tabith Awal.
Although one of the three ends up competing against Tabith. Tabith has the upper hand in many equations. Therefore, this time no excitement left for the concerned peoples with the contest for the post of president. So, after the purchase and sale of nomination papers in BFF, now all are discussing with the post of senior vice president.
The nominations for the post of senior vice-president have been collected by Imrul Hasan, the current vice-president of the federation and president of Bashundhara Kings, and Ruhul Amin, the owner of the recently defunct Premier Football League club Saif Sporting.
Both have collected one nomination each. If both the candidates submit their nomination papers and if they are valid and not finally withdrawn, the poll will be conducted.
Both Ruhul Amin and Imrul Hasan are not very experienced organizers, they are not old faces in football arena. In the last few years, however, both of them became familiar and Imrul Hasan gained better popularity than his rivals (if no one will withdraw his nomination) through Bashundhara Kings and working as vice-president of the BFF for last season. Ruhul Amin also became a familiar figure in sports arena since his earlier involvement with the incumbent president of the BFF Kazi Salahuddin and later on for criticizing him (Salahuddin) roughly. But the Chattogram based businessman have also invested to run a club (Saif Sporting) and also the vice-president of the Bangladesh Chess Federation.
Tarafdar Ruhul finally accepted the nomination paper only for the post of senior vice-president. This has created a rivalry between Imrul and Tarafdar.
Tarafdar Ruhul Amin’s came in football arena through Chittagong Abahani Limited and as the main sponsor of organising Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in 2015. After that he formed Saif Sporting Club and became the chairman of Chittagong Abahani football committee.
One of the high ups of the Bashundhara Group, Imrul Hassan, who has a great passion of football, is the mastermind behind Bashundhara Group’s football investment and football success. Meanwhile, along with Tarafdar and Imrul, a man from Jessore, Monir Hossain collected nominations for the post of senior vice-president. Monir Hossain 60, was the last person to collect the nomination paper.
Although there are rumors in the football arena that one of the two (Imrul, Tarafdar) may not submit and if will submitted may eventually withdraw. Finally, if both of them contest for the post of senior vice president, BFF election will get some excitement.
