The debate over the members of Swadhin Bangla Football Dal came to an end after the inclusion of the team officials and three more players into the list was unanimously accepted yesterday.
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF), which has taken initiative to accord reception to the team that played exhibition matches in India in 1971 to create public opinion for the country's Liberation War, announced that it will honour all the 36 members of the class of '71.
The reception will be held on January 4 at the ground adjacent to the BFF Bhaban.
The reception committee, headed by BFF member Sirajul Islam Bachchu, settled the issue in yesterday's meeting where players of the squad testified that Biren Das, Mozammel Haque and Abdul Khalek were members of the Swadhin Bangla Football Dal. These three names were missing in the official gazette published by the government.
The committee also decided to include manager Tanvir Mazharul Tanna and coach late Nani Basak in its list.
Zakaria Pintoo, who had captained the side, was present in the meeting and admitted that he had forgotten the names of the three players when the gazette was made.
Pintoo hoped that all controversies over the country's 'war heroes' would end after this decision.
Five members of the team -- Ali Imam, Sheikh Monsur Ali Lalu, Moniruzzaman Peara, Mahmudur Rashid and Basak -- have already passed away while six including Enayetur Rahman Khan are living abroad.
The final list: Zakaria Pintoo (captain), Pratap Shankar Hazra, Ali Imam, Mohammed Kaikobad, Amalesh Sen, Ainul Haque, Sheikh Ashraf Ali, Bimal Kar, Shahjahan Alam, Monsur Ali Lalu, Kazi Salahuddin, Enayetur Rahman, KN Nawsheruzzaman, Subhash Saha, Fazle Hossain Khokon, Abul Hakim, Taslimuddin Sheikh, Aminul Islam, Abdul Momin Joarder, Moniruzzaman Peara, Abdus Sattar, Pran Govinda Kundu, Mujibur Rahman, Khondokar Nurunnabi, Lutfar Rahman, Aniruddha Chatterjee, Sanjit Kumar Dey, Mahmudur Rashid, Saidur Rahman Patel, Dewan Sirajuddin, Nihar Kanti Das, Biren Das, Mozammel Haque and Abdul Khalek, Tanvir Mazhar Tanna (manager), Nani Basak (coach).