In a bid to retain the title, the reigning champions Bashundhara Kings will start the Bangladesh Peremier League (BPL) football campaig with taking on the Brothers Union at the Kings Arena at 4:30pm when the topflight football competition of the country will kick off from today at four venues.
In the opening day, four matches will take places in different venues in and outside Dhaka.
Meanwhile, all top four teams of the last season will begin their campaign in the opening day (today) when apart from the champions Bashundhara Kings, Abahani Limited, Bangladesh Police FC and Mohammedan Sporting Club will also play their respective league opener.
However, Abahani Limited, the six times champions and the defending runners up of the BPL will take on Rahmatganj at Sheikh Fazlul Haque Moni Stadium, Gopalganj. Bangladesh Police FC will take on Chittagong Abahani Limited at the Rofiqe Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium, Mymennsingh when Fortis FC will face off Mohammedan Sporting Club at the Muktijoddha Sriti Stadium, Rajshahi, all the matches will take palces at 2:30 pm.
The BPL matches will be on every Friday and Saturday of the week, while the Federation Cup football matches will kick off on December 26, and scheduled for every Tuesday.
All 10 Premier League teams, split into three groups, will compete in the first phase of the Federation Cup of Football.
For Bashundhara Kings, the four times champions in a row it will be a challenge to retain the title, when they celebrated the championship of the last edition with a huge 15 points difference to the runners up Abahani Limited with finishing the league on 55 points with 18 wins, a draw and a defeat.
The closest contenders in the championship race, Abahani Limited finished the league with 40 points when the Dhanmondi outfit could not throw any challenges to the Bashudhara Kings.
Highest six times champions of the BPL, Abahani Limited had to satisfy with the runners up trophy and might have tough times in the last season, as had to end the league far behind to the champions.
But there were some competitions for the third, fourth and fifth positions when Bangladesh Police Club finished just five points behind to the runners up Abahanai to claim third position with 35 points.
Mohammedan Sporting Club became fourth with three points behind to Police and Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra were fifth with 30 points just two points less than MSC.
Meanwhle, the tradional giants of the country’s football and the long times dominant powerhouses Mohammedan SC and Abahani Limited have been almost out of the title race since Bashundhara Kings making their entry in the topflight of the league five years back.
Abahani Limited, somehow managed the runners up trophy for last for years, the condition of Mohammedan are worsen than the Sky-Blues.
The traditional Black and White could not taste the title win even for once of the Professional Football League (Bangladesh Premier League Football), was ntroduced here in Bangladesh in 2008.
Meanwhile, the other contenders, Sheikh Russel and Sheikh Jamal, who also hinted to appear as powerhouses alongside the Abahani and Mohammedan after winning the title of the BPL surpassing the traditional giants, have been struggling for last few years.
Russel could win the title for once when Sheikh Jamal won the trophy for three times but for last few seasons they could not even produce any strong contest to be the title contenders, as the title race turned into onesided for the Kings.
Now time will say how much competitive the league would be of this season.