Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions Bashundhara Kings will resume their business in the double leg Group E (South Zone) of AFC Cup’2020 taking on Maldivian side Maziya S&RC on Oct 23.

Bangladeshi giants will play against Indian club Chennai City FC on Oct 26 and Oct 29, TC Sports on Nov 1 and Maziya S&RC on Nov 4. The other matches: TC Sports vs Chennai City FC on Oct 23, Maziya S&RC vs TC Sports on Oct 26 and Oct 29, Maziya S&RC vs Chennai City FC on Nov 1, Chennai City vs TC Sports on Nov 4. The venue is yet to be decided.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) approved their new schedule with a centralised format, proposed by its competitions committee, on June 25. According to the schedule, The single-leg Inter-zone semi-finals will be held on Nov 24-25, single-leg Inter-zone final on Dec 2 and single-leg AFC Cup final on Dec12.
The AFC also invited its Participating Member Associations (PAMs) and Participating Club(s) to bid for hosting the matches. The last date to bid is fixed July 17 while AFC will take the final decision on July 31. Kings have decided not to bid for hosting the competition as the country’s present situation hasn’t become good yet and there is no possibility of getting better by this time.

The competing clubs played one match each on first match day on March 11 two days after AFC froze its ongoing season for an indefinite period in the wake of pandemic worldwide. Kings, who have been playing for the first time in this club competition, made a flying start in the AFC Cup’2020 outplaying Maldivian club TC Sports by 5-1 goals in the group opener in March.

Kings are expected to resume their preparation camp in the first week of September. Ahead of their campaign, they are going to form a strong squad with a bunch of new foreigners. The BPL champions released Costa Rican forward Daniel Colindres and Tajik defender Akhtam Nazarov while deciding to release another foreign recruit Kyrgyz midfielder Bakhtiyar Duyshobekov. Their Argentine Striker Hernan Barcos and his compatriot defender Nicholas Delmonte will continue his journey with the club.

Club’s Marketing and Media Manager Ahmed Shaaek said, “We have shortlisted some footballers and started to talk with them. We are expecting results within the next two weeks.”