Bangladesh Football Season Start Delayed Again

The new Bangladesh football season has been pushed back once more, with the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) forced into another reshuffle of its calendar as three major clubs remain under FIFA transfer bans.

Registration race against time

BFF has now set 3 September 2026 as the final deadline for all participating clubs to complete first-phase player registration for the 2026–27 Bangladesh Football League. That date is non-negotiable.

The reason is clear. Bashundhara Kings, Abahani and Young Men's Fakirerpool Club have still not managed to lift their FIFA players’ registration bans, despite repeated extensions from the federation. The delays have jammed the entire domestic calendar, leaving BFF with little choice but to move the start line again.

Season and Federation Cup rescheduled

The domestic season, originally slated to begin on 25 August, will now kick off on 18 September under the revised schedule.

The Federation Cup has also been shunted back. Once pencilled in to start on 28 August, the tournament will now begin on 22 September, turning into the first major cup test of the campaign rather than a curtain-raiser in late August.

Matches in the Federation Cup will be spread across Munshiganj, Manikganj, Gopalganj and the National Stadium in Dhaka, taking top-flight football beyond the capital while still anchoring the showpiece games at the country’s main venue.

National team squeezed into tight window

All of this unfolds around a packed FIFA international window from 21 September to 6 October. To keep the national side on track, BFF has instructed that the national team camp must start on 27 August.

So, while clubs scramble to sort out registrations and adjust to the new dates, the national setup will already be in full preparation mode, drawing players away just as the domestic engines are trying to fire up.

Fortis FC’s Asian duty adds another twist

The calendar complication does not end there. Fortis FC’s involvement in the AFC Challenge League will carve another gap into the domestic schedule.

The group stage of that continental competition is set for 17–23 October in Kuwait, which means Fortis will be away on Asian duty at a key point in the early season.

BFF has moved to ring-fence that issue. Any Bangladesh Football League and Federation Cup fixtures involving Fortis will be played only after the completion of the first phase of the league, effectively shielding the club from a brutal pile-up of matches on two fronts.

The message from the federation is blunt: clear the bans, meet the registration deadline, or risk being left behind in a season already running late.