A two-member delegation of Argentina Premier Division outfit Club Atletico River Plate made a goodwill visit to Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra Complex and Bashundhara Sports Complex in Bashundhara Residential Area responding to the invitations from Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra and Bashundhara Kings on Tuesday.
The delegation comprising CA River Plate Department of National and International Football Schools president Sebastian Perez Escobar and Department of National and International Football Schools - Specialist on International Football Events advisor Gonzalo Lamas said that they were impressed with both the clubs and their grounds and they have a lot of expectations to work with these clubs.
On behalf of Sheikh Russel Chairman and Bashundhara Group Managing Director Sayem Sobhan Anvir, the club’s finance director Fakhruddin Ahmed welcomed the River Plate delegation at their club premises.
They sat in on a meeting and exchanged their views on respective teams and discussed targets and future plans. The Sheikh Russel director also gifted a home jersey to the delegation as a souvenir.
“We are happy that they visited our club premises,” said Fakhruddin to The Daily Sun after the meeting.
“They have the plan to launch a two-week training for students at different levels including schools, colleges and universities,” he added.
Earlier this day, the delegation along with two officials of Bangladesh Football Federation explored the Bashundhara Sports Complex which is the home venue of both Bashundhara Kings and Sheikh Russel.
Kings manager SM Wasimuzzaman, Bashundhara Group Advisor and Bashundhara Sports Complex Project Head Engr Aman Ullah welcomed the delegation and showed the entire complex including Bashundhara Kings Arena and Rangpur Riders Cricket Arena there.
Later, the delegation met with Bangladesh Football Federation vice-president and Kings president Imrul Hassan at his Bashundhara Corporate Office.
River Plate Department of National and International Football Schools president Sebastian Perez Escobar said that they were surprised with the Bashundhara Sports Complex.
“I’m surprised to see all of these installations. I think the club is in the same level as Argentina’s first league. We come to talk about a lot of things before signing any contract. It depends on both parties; I believe we can make progress this year. We are really compromised to work together,” said Escobar.
“If you make a comparison, I think the River Plate stadium is bigger than it. The capacity of our stadium is 84,000. Another difference is we have preliminary school, elementary high school and university. But when your Complex is finished, it will be great. I’ve traveled all around the world but I’ve not seen anything like it anywhere,” he added.
River Plate Department of National and International Football Schools - Specialist on International Football Events advisor Gonzalo Lamas said that they would work to improve bilateral relations between the two nations so that they could play friendlies at the club level in the future.
“There could be friendly matches between two clubs, but first we need to establish a relationship. We will have a lot of things to do together then. Our first target is to share our philosophy, our values and whatever we have in Argentina to share with you. Whatever we do in Argentina, we want to share with your clubs if they want,” he said.
“We’ve seen the passion for football among the people in Bangladesh. We find new friends here, it does not happen anywhere. We have a lot of expectations to work here. We were here at your place 20/25 years ago. In the last 20 years, we have known how to do it and we want to share this with you. You remember how the Argentines were 25 years ago,” Gonzalo added.
BDST: 2147 HRS, FEB 28, 2023
MSK
