Bashundhara Kings’ AFC Cup dream dashed

The dream of the Bashundhara Kings to win the AFC Cup 2020 shattered when the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced the cancellation of the competition on Thursday.

The Bangladesh champions made a flying start in their first match of Group E of the qualifying round with a 5-0 win over the TC Sports Club of Maldives on March 11. However, within a week the FIFA and the AFC postponed the international match calendars in response to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which persists in most parts of the world.

However, almost after five months both FIFA and AFC made a fresh schedule of the international matches including five matches of the AFC Cup of Group E of the qualifying round set to be played from October 23 to November 4.

By this time, Bashundhara Kings’ strength has been increased by manifolds with the addition of two Brazilian booters, Robson Azevedo da Silva Aka Robinho and Jonathon de Silveira Fernandes along with former Argentine Hernan Barcos, who already played the first match and scored four goals.

Bashundhara turned to a dream team after forming a team with a couple of young Brazilians (both are 25 years old), an Argentine having experience of playing with Lionel Messi, and 14 players of the national team.

But on the very day (Thursday) when the Latin trio reached at the club tent to get ready for training sessions, the AFC finally cancelled the AFC Cup competition 2020 next day just ahead of one month and 13 days for the rescheduled matches to get underway from October 23 at a central venue in the Maldives.

Having cancelled the AFC Cup, the AFC said in a press release, “In view of the logistics in coordinating the five zones of the AFC Cup and completing the Inter-Zone matches, the AFC Executive Committee also agreed that the pandemic created complexities which constituted a Force Majeure event and with sadness, led to the cancellation of the 2020 competition”.

But the AFC Executive Committee agreed that the final of the AFC Champions League, AFC Futsal Championship will be played in December.

Bashundhara Kings were grouped along with two clubs of Maldives namely TC Sports Club and Maziya Sports along with Recreation Club and Chennai City FC of India.

After playing the first round match Bashundhara were leading the point table with full three points followed by Chennai City FC and Maziya Sports and Recreation Club with one point each and TC Sports earned no points.

TH

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Bashundhara Kings AFC Cup dream dashed

The dream of the Bashundhara Kings to win the AFC Cup 2020 shattered when the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) announced the cancellation of the competition on Thursday. The Bangladesh champions made a flying start in their first match of Group E of the qualifying round with a 5-0 win over the TC Sports Club of Maldives on March 11. However, within a week the FIFA and the AFC postponed the international match calendars in response to the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which persists in most parts of the world. However, almost after five months both FIFA and AFC made a fresh schedule of the international matches including five matches of the AFC Cup of Group E of the qualifying round set to be played from October 23 to November 4. By this time, Bashundhara Kings strength has been increased by manifolds with the addition of two Brazilian booters, Robson Azevedo da Silva Aka Robinho and Jonathon de Silveira Fernandes along with former Argentine Hernan Barcos, who already played the first match and scored four goals. Bashundhara turned to a dream team after forming a team with a couple of young Brazilians (both are 25 years old), an Argentine having experience of playing with Lionel Messi, and 14 players of the national team. But on the very day (Thursday) when the Latin trio reached at the club tent to get ready for training sessions, the AFC finally cancelled the AFC Cup competition 2020 next day just ahead of one month and 13 days for the rescheduled matches to get underway from October 23 at a central venue in the Maldives. Having cancelled the AFC Cup, the AFC said in a press release, In view of the logistics in coordinating the five zones of the AFC Cup and completing the Inter-Zone matches, the AFC Executive Committee also agreed that the pandemic created complexities which constituted a Force Majeure event and with sadness, led to the cancellation of the 2020 competition. But the AFC Executive Committee agreed that the final of the AFC Champions League, AFC Futsal Championship will be played in December. Bashundhara Kings were grouped along with two clubs of Maldives namely TC Sports Club and Maziya Sports along with Recreation Club and Chennai City FC of India. After playing the first round match Bashundhara were leading the point table with full three points followed by Chennai City FC and Maziya Sports and Recreation Club with one point each and TC Sports earned no points. TH