Dhaka, November 7: Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) inked a five-year deal worth Tk60m per annum with Channel 9 as the satellite TV station became the title sponsors of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football while they will also hold the advertising and marketing rights of the tournament.
 
Apart from the hosts, Bahrain, Qatar, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Pakistan are the other nations interested in participating in the tournament, Channel 9 handed over a cheque of Tk10m to the BFF as advance money. 

Since taking the chair of the BFF president in 2009, Kazi Salahuddin was desperate to host an international tournament and finally his plan is on the verge of implementation. “The reality is these kind of tournaments are almost extinct in modern football as the players and the teams are too busy with the leagues and their confederation commitments. We are happy to see that a number of countries have consented to play the tournament, I may say that it is better late than never, we have chosen strong teams so that our national team gets benefited playing against the superior teams, I thank Channel 9 for the support,” said the BFF supremo. 

Enayetur Rahman, the managing director of Channel 9, echoed Salahuddin and said, “We stepped up to revive the glory of football. There are risks involved and its ratio is 50:50. If everything goes right we will be able to transmit the tournament to 50 countries, though the money input may not arrive as expected in the initial edition I have every reason to believe that we will be making the tournament a big one in the near future, the business module of football and the tournament is positive.” opined Enayet. 

BFF Senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy, Channel 9 CEO Brig. Gen. (rtd) Jamil Ahmed Khan, BFF vice president Badal Roy, general secretary Abu Naeem Shohag and other officials were also present on the occasion