Draw ceremony of the six-nation Bangabandhu Gold Cup was held at a hotel in Dhaka on Saturday. Hosts Bangladesh were slotted in Group A, alongside defending champions Palestine. The other team in Bangladesh’s group are Sri Lanka.
In Group B, Burundi are pitted against Mauritius and Seychelles in the sixth edition of the tournament.
Bangabandhu Gold Cup, organised marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is scheduled to start on January 15 and end on January 25.
Though many countries were invited by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), only 5 teams finally agreed to participate in this year’s tourney. Defending champions Palestine are the highest ranked (106) team in the tourney, followed by Burundi who are ranked at 151, Mauritius at 172, Bangladesh at 187, Seychelles at 200 and lastly Sri Lanka at 205.
At the draw ceremony, BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, Finance Minister AHM Mostafa Kamal, State Minister for Youth and Sports Zahid Ahsan Russel, chief coordinator of the national implementation committee for celebration of Bangabandhu’s birth centenary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury, Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Atiqul Islam, tournament's rights holder K-Sports CEO Fahad Karim, and other stakeholders were present.