With the new season of domestic football knocking at the door, Bashundhara Kings is once again at the centre of attention among football lovers. Though the defending champions didn’t put up a good performance in the unfinished league season of 2019-20, they are on a positive note again with some hyped foreign players signings for this season. While all the clubs are busy in pre-season preparation, fans are eagerly waiting to see those new signings from Brazil, Chile and Iran set the pitch on fire.
Bashundhara has emerged as one of the top clubs in the country since their promotion to the Bangladesh Premier League. Their silverwares in the domestic league and cup in the last two seasons and the dominating display in the 2020 AFC Cup campaign, are testament to that. With eye grabbing success and high profile foreign players in the squad, they have become the talk of the town in Bangladesh’s club football.
Even though Basundhara clinched the Federation Cup title and got a superb win in their debut AFC campaign during the 2019-20 season, their performance in the league wasn’t up to their high standards. The defending champions were only sixth in the table after six matches, that too, by conceding nine goals, before the league was annulled due to the pandemic. Although their star performer Daniel Colindres and Argentine striker Hernan Barcos left the club, they are looking for a good start to this season with four fresh additions to the squad.
“Our performance in the league wasn’t that great last season, but we are excited about our new signings. We’ve brought Iranian defender Khaled Shafie to bolster our defence. He is very strong in the air and can play a big role in defending set pieces,” said the team’s media manager Ahmed Shaek.
The club also signed Chilean striker Raúl Becerra to replace Hernan Barcos and two Brazilians- Robinho and Fernandes for wing and midfield positions respectively.
Mr Ahmed was particularly thrilled about his Brazilian signings. “The players we’ve brought have played at the highest level of Brazilian football. They will be an important asset to us this season,” he added. Robinho is expected to be a good replacement for Colindres as a winger. “Robinho’s pace and dribbling will be a feast for the eyes of our fans.”
Bringing high profile foreign players, creating sensation, gaining success- all are true about Bashundhara Kings though none of them are their actual goal. They are here with a vision and long term goals as Mr Ahmed clearly states, “We are proceeding with a long-term plan and want to be an Asian powerhouse. That’s why we are planning to build state of the art infrastructure like the top European clubs.”
Indeed Bashundhara Kings has already started the construction of a football complex in Bashundhara R/A which comprises a football stadium. The stadium will be the official home ground for the Kings. They have also planned to form a football academy for under-15 and under-17 players. The complex will have dedicated space for the academy players with all the modern facilities. No doubt, this academy will be a great place to nurture talents in future.
Bashundhara Kings is already a force to be reckoned with in domestic football. No other club has managed to recruit such high-quality foreign players in recent times. Not to mention they have a group of talented local players as well. On top of everything if they are able to build on their initial success and insist on their long term goals, Bangladeshi football fans have a lot to be excited about.
The writer studies economics at Dhaka University. He can be reached at [email protected].
