SA Sultan

The rumour surrounding Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president SA Sultan's resignation materialised as a document supporting the fact was available yesterday.
Sultan has sent his resignation letter to FIFA president Sepp Blatter on December 15, stating: "I hereby resign from the post of president of the Bangladesh Football Federation due to unavoidable circumstances and personal reasons. Kindly accept my resignation."
It was learnt that Sultan has also given a copy of the resignation letter to National Sports Council chairman and Army Chief General Moeen U Ahmed on Saturday when the BFF chief met the latter to hand over the money earned from the charity matches for cyclone affected people of the country.
However Sultan could not be reached for his comments. The BFF officials including acting general secretary Manzoor Hossain Malu were also in total darkness about the resignation.
Sultan and the executive committee, whose tenure expired last April, were given a year's lifeline by FIFA to hold an election according to its new directives.
However, the EC's desire to keep aloof of the football fraternity and form the district and divisional football associations (DFAs) on its own were heavily criticised from different quarters.
Sports Adviser Tapan Chowdhury's dissatisfaction over the issue irked Sultan, who went on to publicly criticise the adviser last week.
In a last-gasp effort, Sultan had a meeting with the non-BFF organisers and footballers on December 12 before deciding to turn to FIFA and request its permission to allow the BFF to go for the polls according to the old constitution (2003).
The BFF had send a letter to the FIFA -- which enjoyed a virtual holiday till last Sunday as its top brass was busy for the World Club Cup in Tokyo -- but Sultan had to step down before getting answers as incidents moved faster than he could handle.
Sultan lodged official complaints against Tapan Chowdhury in a letter to the NSC chairman but as soon as the contents of the letter were published, his days, perhaps, were numbered.
It can be mentioned that when Sultan was selected president of the federation in 2001, he disbanded the elected body of the BFF to bring the wrath of FIFA, which banned the federation instantly.
Only when the elected executive committee was reinstated, the FIFA lifted the ban.
During his tenure as BFF president -- the first to be elected -- general secretaries Harunur Rashid and Anwarul Hoque Helal and vice-president Kazi Salahuddin resigned from the federation.