Ahead of the Federation Cup, the season opener of local football, defending champion Bashundhara Kings said that they want to keep the title. Their challengers Dhaka Abahani and Sheikh Russel too had shown interest in retaining the title before  the event.

The traditional sky blue outfits who failed to make it to the semis in the last Fed Cup got big expectations for the trophy this year. Its Portuguese head coach Mário Lemos said, “We have big expectations. We know it will be a tough mission for us. You know Abahani is the 11 times champion of the Federation Cup and we will definitely try to win the trophy.”

The coach Added, “We are willing to advance one stage by one stage. Right now group rivals are our primary focus. After that we will focus on the next stages.”

Sheikh Russel KC was third in the last played BPL but failed to survive the group stage of Fed Cup. Its head coach Saiful Bari Titu’s opinion before beginning the season, “No game will be easy. We will try to overcome group obstacles, and afterwards, we will advance match by match. Our target is to be the champion of the event,”