BFF and Citycell Sign Deal

The partnership between Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and Citycell that is expected to give the dying game in the country a lifeline was made official yesterday after the two parties signed an MoU for the development of football.

Citycell will provide the cash-starved BFF Tk 16.5 crore over the next three years as the federation's 'partner in progress'.

"I thank Citycell for its generosity and hope it will be with us beyond the three years," said BFF president Kazi Salahuddin before signing the deal at the BFF Bhaban.

"These three years will be a chance to prove ourselves and if we do well, I hope the sponsors will remain with us," the former national footballer added.

When asked whether the amount was sufficient to implement all the programmes the new BFF committee has taken, Salahuddin said that 'sky is the limit for football'.

"We need millions but this is the base from where we can start climbing. Now it's our responsibility to take it further ahead. We are close to roll football to the ground as the Citycell Federation Cup starts on July 26. From then on, we will keep football on the ground for ten months. That was the promise my committee had made," Salahuddin said.

Citycell will be the title sponsors of the Federation Cup, B. League and the school championships and left options for the BFF to drag in other sponsors for tournaments like the National Football League and the national senior and youth championships. The cellular phone operators will happily act as co-sponsors for other events.

"We are still working on the details of the deal but the sponsored amount for the B. League is Tk one crore. As I had promised, 70 percent of it will be handed over to the clubs before the professional league."

The funds would be provided part by part, according to requirements of the programmes set by the BFF, confirmed the BFF chief.

Michael Seymour, CEO of Citycell, said three years is a 'fair enough' time to be in a position to assess whether his organisation would continue its support afterwards.

"We are here to support BFF and look forward to revival of football through the BFF plans that have been shown to us. "We believe that it can be achieved as there is massive interest for the game. It would be a milestone if we could play part in the big revival of the game," said the chief executive of the country's only CDMA mobile phone network.

"It would take a lot of efforts to develop the game among the youth and we would also like to see that the money is wisely spent.

"It is my great pleasure and honour to be present on this historic occasion when Citycell joins hands with the BFF to bring back to life the passion foot football in this country. Although the number of success (in international arena) in recent times is few, there are innumerable opportunities to rejuvenate the game by realising the latent talent of our youth.

"Our passion for the game is evident and with positive development of football, we foresee our youth reviving the game not only within the country but also taking on these global challenges in the years to come.

"We are collaborating with BFF under an agreement which is renewable every year for three years and is subject to the performance of the federation in bringing football back to its former glory and beyond. Under the dynamic and able leadership of the BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, we believe this is the right time to enter into this relationship."

The BFF high-ups and Citycell's head of marketing Ananda Rajasinghan and general manager (marketing, communications and branding) Sania Mahmood were also present at the agreement signing ceremony.