The Bashundhara Kings Arena of Bashundhara Sports Complex will host the upcoming two FIFA Tier 1 International friendlies between Bangladesh and Afghanistan respectively on September 4 and 7, the Bangladesh Football Federation confirmed on Saturday.
“There will be two FIFA friendly matches between Bangladesh and Afghanistan on September 4 and 7. Both matches will be held at the Bashundhara Kings Arena,” said BFF vice-president and National Teams Committee chairman Kazi Nabil Ahmed.
It will be the first time the venue will host an international match as it has been used as the home venue of the four-time Bangladesh Premier League champions Bashundhara Kings since 2022.
The first-ever domestic match hosted at this venue was back on April 17, 2022 when Kings played against Bangladesh Police FC.
On June 2 this year, the venue hosted its first BPL match under floodlights when Kings played against Mohammedan Sporting Club.
Bangladesh will play those two friendlies as a part of their preparation for the upcoming double-leg preliminary joint qualifiers round one for FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 against Maldives, scheduled to be held respectively on October 12 and 17.
Ahead of the friendlies, the venue will also be used as the practice ground for the men in red and green. The team will start their on-field training on August 21.
The country’s only full-fledged sports complex, Bashundhara Sports Complex, is one of the most precious and expensive assets of the country’s largest business conglomerate Bashundhara Group.
The sports complex is built on 300 bigha of land at the Bashundhara Residential area.
The Kings area, with its 14000 capacity, has all modern facilities including Category A and HD quality floodlights, modern dressing rooms for home and away teams, a press conference room, meeting rooms and a broadcaster room.
There are a total of 280 lights at these four towers and each of these lights are 1.2 kilowatt. The floodlights are able to produce 1200 kilowatt or 2500 lux.
Meanwhile, the BFF also announced a 32-member preliminary squad for the upcoming friendlies against Afghanistan on the same day.
Forward Dipok Roy from Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra Ltd and forward Sarower Zaman Nipu from Azampur FC Uttara got their maiden calls in the squad.
Bangladesh squad:
Goalkeepers: Anisur Rahman Zico, Sahidul Alam, Mitul Marma, Md Papu Hossain; Defenders: Bishwanath Ghosh, Tapu Barman, Tariq Kazi, Rimon Hossain, Saad Uddin, Rahmat Mia, Alomgir Molla, Murad Hasan, Md Mehedi Hasan, Isa Faysal, Mohammad Atikuzzaman; Midfielders: Sohel Rana, Shekh Morsalin, Md Ridoy, Md Sohel Rana, Abu Shaied, Mojibur Rahman Joni, Rabiul Hasan, Jamal Bhuyan; Forwards: Rakib Hossain, Matin Mia, Sumon Reza, Faysal Ahmed Fahim, Dipok Roy, Aminur Rahman Sojib, Sarower Zaman Nipu, Jafar Iqbal and Mohammad Ibrahim.
BDST: 0901 HRS, AUG 20, 2023
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