The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is the latest Member Association (MA) to be awarded the AFC Grassroots Charter Bronze membership for its determination and commitment in developing grassroots football.

With the aim of maximising football participation across the country, BFF has established a robust grassroots development system which focuses on a wide range of areas including structure, planning, partnership, player programme and results.

Structure

The significance of grassroots development is underlined in BFF’s Football Development Plan – Vision 2024, which has been divided into three phases across the Short, Middle and Long-term.

To further boost their regional development, BFF created the concept of “community hub” in eight divisions which follow the structured Grassroots Strategic Plan and Policies.

Planning

Based on its grassroots development strategy, BFF launched the Grassroots Action Plan 2021 which covers grassroots programmes, coach education sessions, sponsors activities, talent identification, referee development, grassroots tournaments, database creation and fair play.

In line with the Bangladesh football philosophy, BFF will also introduce a series of workshops and courses for players to instil the awareness of life skills and educational values through football.

Partnership

BFF is also working closely with the Government, the Education Ministry, the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education and the national sports institute – Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishtan (BKSP). The Memorandum of Understanding signed by BFF and the government authorities will encourage more grassroots participation in the country.

Player Programme

BFF created three active grassroots zones with 200 boys and 60 girls in different age groups from each zone. Together with the District Football Associations and schools, BFF is scheduled to organise 17 grassroots festivals, three School Children’s Day activities in different districts and the U-12 National Championship in 2021.

As part of the technical and logistic support to the football academies, BFF also initiated its first-ever Residential Grassroots Coaching Course in five districts. To recognise the contributions of grassroots coaches, BFF is planning to establish the Grassroots Awards among the accredited academies in December.

Results

In their efforts to reach more boys and girls, BFF will organise a variety of youth football tournaments for the U-14 to U-18 age groups annually. More than two million young players, including 47.6% of girls have participated in the fun-filled football games.

The BFF President Kazi Md. Salahuddin said: “Not every grassroots footballer will become the national team player, but they are all introduced to football at the grassroots level. As a Federation, we are committed towards providing opportunities for everyone and to achieve our objective – football for all.”

The AFC Grassroots Charter is a development tool to support MAs to increase the quality of grassroots programmes. It identifies 20 performance categories such as grassroots competitions, structure, promotional activities and partnerships.