Arch-rivals Abahani Limited and Mohammedan Sporting Club have been pitted in the same group as the draw ceremony of Federation Cup was held at the BFF House on Wednesday.
Ten participating clubs of the Bangladesh Premier League, split into two-groups, will compete in the tournament which will begin on December 3 at three separate venues across the country. The final of the tournament is slated for May 2 next year.
The three venues are 鈥� Bashundhara Kings Arena, Mymensingh鈥檚 Rofique Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium and Cumilla鈥檚 Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium.
Last season鈥檚 treble winners Bashundhara Kings were placed in Group A alongside Police Football Club, Fortis Football Club, Brothers Union and promoted Dhaka Wanderers Club while the Group B was made of Abahani, Mohammedan, Chittagong Abahani, Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society and Dhaka Wanderers Club.
After the round robin league group phase matches, the champions and runners-up teams from each group will qualify for the knock out stage.
This time, instead of the traditional semi-finals, qualifiers and eliminators have been made on the pattern of cricket franchise tournaments.聽
The winners of the match between the two champions of the two groups will directly play in the final while the losers of that match will play the winner of the runners-up team.
鈥楢 team maintains consistency with a lot of hard work to become group champions鈥e introduced this system [in Federation Cup] so that they do not get eliminated because of one bad day. Hopefully, it will be effective,鈥� BFF senior-vice president and professional league committee chairman Imrul Hasan replied to a query after the draw ceremony.聽
The Federation Cup will run side by side of the Bangladesh Premier League, which is expected to begin in late November.聽
However, 2023-2024 BPL and Fed Cup winners Bashundhara Kings and the runners-up Mohammedan will face off in the season curtain raiser tournament the Bangladesh Challenge Cup at the Kings Arena on Friday.聽
Following the draw, the award ceremony for the 2023-2024 BPL and the BFF Under-18 Football League was held, with players and officials from both competitions receiving awards in 12 categories.
