Tarafder Ruhul Amin Announces Candidacy for BFF Presidency

About 24 hours after Kazi Salahuddin decided not to run for president in the upcoming Bangladesh Football Federation elections, Tarafder Ruhul Amin has catapulted himself as a candidate for the top job in the October 26 polls.

It was the first football interaction on a public platform for the industrialist turned sports organiser, who had apparently abandoned his footballing ambitions after not running for the same position in the last BFF elections in 2020.

Amin’s name was officially proposed by Ali Imam Topon, former president of the Bangladesh Athletics Federation, at a press conference at a hotel in the capital on Sunday under the banner of “Bangladesh Football Federation Election Presidential Candidate Declaration with Consensus”.

“Tarafder Ruhul Amin is announced as the presidential candidate on behalf of the districts and clubs. The Football Association did not help in running the leagues at the district level. It was their help that kept the league at the district level,” Topon said in his speech.

Former football stars Shafiqul Islam Manik, Syed Rumman bin Wali Sabbir and others were on stage while Bangladesh Nationalist Party sports secretary Aminul Haque, a BNP leader and vocal force in the protests against Salahuddin, was also present among others at the event.

Amin is a well-known figure in the sports world, having been actively involved in football and chess since 2015. He had made generous investments in Dhaka’s district leagues and lower division clubs during Salahuddin’s third term at the BFF. He was also the chairman of the now-defunct Saif Sporting Club and the vice-chairman of Chittagong Abahani. However, his footballing ambitions took a hit when he abruptly dropped out of the race for the BFF presidency in the 2020 elections, allegedly under pressure from his superiors, despite putting in significant groundwork in his bid to unseat Salahuddin.

In accepting the offer to run for president, Amin said he wanted to revive the country’s flagging football scene.

“I don’t want to make a false promise that I want to take Bangladesh to a specific league,” Amin said in response to a question. “Football has no structure in the country now. We had already worked on the franchise league and I promise that I will implement it (if elected).”

“I would like to bring football to rural areas, rather than confining it to the BFF House in Motijheel. I will create a new awakening. I will also tell you what I will do in four years,” Amin added.

Explaining the hurdles faced in his work with district leagues at the BFF, Amin said, “We have worked a lot on football since 2015-16. We did the district league under the banner of Saif Powertech. We provided a lot of players despite the difficulties. But the football federation never wanted us to work with football,” Amin alleged, adding that he was confident of winning the elections if a level playing field was ensured.

The BFF elections are scheduled for October 26. No election schedule has yet been announced by the BFF.

While several BNP leaders, including Aminul Haque and Khairul Kabir Khokon, have thrown their support behind Amin, Tabith Awal, another BNP leader and former BFF vice-president, is seen as a strong contender for the top job in Bangladeshi football.