Reigning joint champions Abahani Limited will take on newly promoted Bangladesh Railway in the opening match of The Green Delta Insurance Premier Hockey League at the Maulana Bhasahni Hockey Stadium. The match will start at 4pm.
Twelve teams will play on a round robin league system in the first phase. Then the top six teams will qualify for the super league. The points of the first phase will be counted with the super league to determine the championship. The participating teams are: Abahani Limited, Usha Krira Chakra, Dhaka Mariner Young’s Club, Mohammedan Sporting Club, Sonali Bank, Sadharan Bima KS, Ajax Sports Club, Azad Sporting, Wari Club, Dhaka Wanderers Club, Bangladesh Sporting Club and Bangladesh Railway.
This was stated by Abdus Sadeqe, general secretary of Bangladesh Hockey Federation at a press conference at federation conference room yesterday.
It seemed that most of the teams are trying to build their team strength  solely depending on foreign players.  Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) has decided to allow each team to register a maximum number of five foreign players and all of them could be fielded in each match.
BHF’s leaning towards foreign players policy would definitely harm the country’s hockey as said by an official of a leading club. “The move would deprive our local players to improve their skill or standard. Moreover, new and promising players would miss the opportunity to play in premier league as leading four to five teams would try to field local experienced campaigners along with their foreign recruits.” said the official.
However, the BHF general secretary defended the inclusion of foreign players and said, “Their presence would make the league a competitive one and at the same time the local players would have to work hard to make room in their respective teams.”
Meanwhile, Premier Hockey League Committee secretary Kazi Mainuzzaman Pila said that as far as he learnt from different club sources that most of the teams would bring foreign players from Pakistan. “Even one or two teams may opt for European players.”
He further said that as per the desire of the clubs, the BHF has decided to field foreign umpires to supervise the league matches. Two Omani umpires, who have already arrived in Dhaka, would conduct the matches till May 26.
The league committee would try to bring fresh foreign umpires after their departure. But he asserted that foreign umpires would definitely come here to supervise the super league matches.
The sponsor of the league Green Delta Insurance Company would end their three-year contract with the federation after the premier league. The company had paid Tk 40 lakh for a tenure of three years. The champions would receive Tk one lakh, while the runners-up would get Tk. 50,000.