Bangladesh FA overwhelmed by Messi visit
Reuters - Sunday 21 August 2011, 08:19
DHAKA - The Bangladesh Football Federation
(BFF) are being inundated with requests from supporters and
sponsors all desperate to grab a piece of the action when
Argentina and Nigeria clash in Dhaka next month.
The two teams will play an international friendly match at
the Bangabandhu National Stadium on September 6 which is being
described as the biggest ever football event to be held in
Bangladesh.
World Player of the Year Lionel Messi will lead a
star-studded Argentina team to Dhaka with Nigeria also sending a
full-strength side.
"We are overwhelmed by the response from the fans. Sponsors
are showing a lot of interest," Anwarul Huq, chairman of the
match organising committee, told Reuters.
Local media reported that the BFF were selling the rights of
everything associated with the match - from an official dinner
to the bus bringing the teams to the venue.
A local event management firm has bought the rights for the
dinner where a maximum of 250 seats will be available for
supporters to eat with officials, sponsors and the teams.
There will also be an auction for supporters attending the
dinner where they can buy different souvenirs and autographed
pictures and shirts of famous players.
The BFF are also closing in on a deal with a local sponsor,
who will brand a vehicle carrying Argentina fans to follow the
team bus carrying Messi and his team mates, officials said.
Twice world champions Argentina are hugely popular in football-obsessed Bangladesh where their former captain and coach
Diego Maradona is worshiped like a demigod.
Argentina will also play Venezuela on September 2 in
neighbouring Indian city Kolkata.