Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan and East Bengal set to feature in international tournament in Bangladesh
I-League clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are set to feature in the Sheikh Kamal Gold Cup International Football Tournament scheduled to take place in Chittagong from October 18 to 28, The Independent reports. The Kolkata giants are currently participating in the Calcutta Football League that will conclude in the second week of September.
The 10-day long tournament will be organised by Bangladesh Championship League side Chittagong Abahani Limited with the full backing of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). The club officials had met BFF president Kazi Salahuddin in June and held talks about the prospect of staging the tournament in the second half of October. Shamsul Haque Chowdhury, one of the club’s executive committee members confirmed that they have received BFF’s word in this regard.
“We have already obtained the consent of the BFF president and despite a tight domestic and international schedule of national and club teams, we have a gap from the third week of October to 30th October and by this time we will organise the tournament,” he said.
Teams from Nepal and Sri Lanka will also be present in the tournament
It will be an eight-team affair with the two Indian clubs joined by four clubs from the host nation and the league champions from Nepal and Sri Lanka. Chittagong Abahani’s parent club Dhaka Abahani Limited will also feature in the tournament and will be joined by Bangladesh Premier Football League champions Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting Club and Sheikh Jamal SC.
Chittagong Abahani’s football committee chairman Tarafdar Mohammad Ruhul Amin expressed confidence that the tournament will be a colourful affair.
“As it is an international tournament with the participation of four foreign teams including the Kolkata giants East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, obviously it would be organised in a befitting way,” he said. A budget of taka 10 to 15 cores is estimated for the tournament but Amin said that the final amount is yet to be finalised.
“No, we are yet to prepare any budget for the tournament as we have just started the preliminary works,” Ruhul Amin said.
Both Kolkata clubs will have their top players playing the Indian Super League during the tournament, but a mini Champions League is an interesting prospect that Indian fans would no doubt relish.