Bashundhara Kings' own venue is set to be inaugurated today (Thursday) with a match of TVS Bangladesh Premier League between Bashundhara Kings and Bangladesh Police Football Club at 3:00 pm. Bashundhara Kings Arena, the only football ground owned by a club in South Asia, had witnessed a few unofficial matches before. But no official matches were played till the day. Although the club officials were planning to inaugurate the venue hosting a match against a foreign club, the ongoing pandemic didn't let that happen. So the only available option is playing a local league match there. The venue was supposed to be one of the hosts of the 2022 BPL from the very beginning. But Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) excluded this venue along with a few others later and already played the first three rounds at only two venues, in Tongi and Munshiganj. Being criticised by the Sports Minister for the 'two-venue event' decision and facing pressure from international authorities after Bashundhara Kings' complaints with the international football governing bodies, BFF finally included the venue along with four more for the BPL recently. The fourth round of the league will begin with the match now.
Ahead of the inaugural match, the club held a press conference on Wednesday at the newly built match venue to brief the media regarding their preparation and the progress of the entire project. Bashundhara Kings President and one of the Vice Presidents of BFF Imrul Hassan, Senior Executive Director of Bashundhara Group Bidyut Kumar Bhoumik, Bashundhara Sports Complex Engineer Amanullah and other officials answered queries from the media. There the officials revealed that the Sports Complex was primarily a 55-bigha project. Afterwards, a few other projects like venues for other sports including Hockey, Cricket and others. Due to the included venues like Swimming Complex, Golf Course, Tennis Centre and Kabaddi court, the Bashundhara Group had to extend the project area to 300 bighas. They are hoping to make it an entertainment park for the residents. According to the Project Engineer, the 'U-shape' Kings Arena is almost 75 per cent complete and the venue can host about 13 thousand spectators. The total work of the complex is 40 per cent done. Mr Imrul said, "Home venue concept is a very normal matter. The decision BFF took earlier was a mistake and now they have resolved that." "We have a dream to play international matches here after setting up the floodlights. Bashundhara Kings has a match in the AFC Cup. But our venue is yet to be ready and that's why we applied to play the match in Sylhet." "After completing the venue, we have a plan to form a cricket team as well." "For fans, we will provide shuttle service from the gate of Bashundhara Residential Area." Mr Amanullah said that the entire complex is likely to be completed by June 2024 at the cost of Taka 3500 crore. Now, apart from the Bashundhara match, there is another match today at 3:00 pm in Sylhet where Rahmatganj Muslim Friends Society will meet Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club.
