The players’ transfer window for the forthcoming football season closed on Thursday, with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club withdrawing their names citing financial crisis.
With the withdrawal of the 2012 treble winners Sk Russel and three-time league champions Sk Jamal, the 16th edition of the Bangladesh Premier League turned out to be a 10-team competition.
A total of 349 players—319 local and 30 foreign—were signed by 10 clubs, with no club picking national team captain Jamal Bhuyan, who played for Abahani Limited last season.
Sk Russel and Sk Jamal wrote to the Bangladesh Football Federation expressing their inability to take part in the transfer window by confirming their withdrawal on August 18 and 22, respectively.
Skipping the transfer window means the two clubs will be relegated to the second-tier Bangladesh Championship League from next season.
There were also rumours that Chittagong Abahani could also withdraw their name from the league but formed a 35-member team at the eleventh hour of the transfer window deadline that had been extended three days from August 19 to August 22.
Surprisingly, six-time BPL champions Abahani did not sign a single foreign player instead recruited 32 local players, two players more than the previous season.
Apart from the Sky Blues, port-city outfit Ctg Abahani and promoted Dhaka Wanderers Club were the other two clubs who went for all local players with 35 and 40, respectively.
Among other clubs, five successive BPL champions, Bashundhara Kings, have signed 34 players, while last edition’s runners-up Mohammedan Sporting Club (37 players), Police Football Club (34 players), Fortis Football Club (34 players), Rahmatgonj Muslim Friends Society (32 players), Brothers Union (36 players), and promoted Fokirerpool Young Men’s Club (35 players).
Among the 30 foreign players, Kings signed five, Mohammedan two, Police FC two, Fortis FC five, Rahmatgonj MFS five, Brothers Union six, and Fokirerpool YMC signed five.
However, amid the uncertainty of all clubs participations due to financial crisis, the BFF, in a meeting on August 19, decided to allow each club to register 40 players, including foreigners, only for this season.
Last season, BFF allowed each club to register 36 players.
The curtain of the forthcoming season is likely to rise in late September with three competitions—Bangladesh Premier League, Federation Cup, and Challenge Cup.
The BFF dropped the Independence Cup, and the Super Cup competitions from the 2024-2025 season calendar.
