The recent four-day visit of the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, to Dhaka is indeed good news to the football fans of Bangladesh. For there is a glimmer of hope that the once premier event of the country's football--the Aga Khan Gold Cup Football Tournament-- will be revived in the near future. In fact, the initiative by Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed, Chief Adviser of the present CTG and the reciprocal response by Aga Khan and his assurance given to the President Professor Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed about this particular sporting event, has brightened the chance of its revival. Both the print and the electronic media have covered the noble gesture made by Aga Khan to revive the most popular football tournament of Bangladesh.
Lot of enthusiasm and interest has been generated amongst those who take keen interest in sports and games. What is more interesting is that people, who once watched matches of this tournament, have started to click back their memories to the golden days of the grand tournament. Of the great moments, special mention must be made about the final match held in 1960 between the Calcutta (Now Kolkata) Mohammadam Sporting Club and Makassar XI of Indoneisa. The exciting game, which began with a bang by the very first minute goal by the black and white team's skipper and dashing centre forward Omar, ended in a convincing 4-1 victory for the Calcutta giants. The significant aspect of that final was that the winners received the trophy from Aga Khan himself. The newly elected BFF officials should take concrete steps to ensure the 'Kick-off' of this grand tournament at the earliest. This would act as a catalyst to bring back the football fans to the stadium as well as help to regain the lost glory of the most popular game of this country.