Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) will accord a reception to the Swadhin Bangla Football Dal on December 22 to mark the Victory Day.
The reception will take place at the ground adjacent to the BFF Bhaban.
The 33-member team which played exhibition matches across India in 1971 to create public opinion for Bangladesh's Liberation War, have been dubbed war heroes but football's governing body had never taken any steps to honour them.
Ironically, the BFF has finally decided to show respect at a time when the federation president is Kazi Salahuddin, a character of that glorious chapter in country's football.
Although the government published gazette showed 31 names, the BFF has included names of late coach Nani Basak and manager Tanvir Mazhar Tanna in the list.
Already five members of the team -- Ali Imam, Sheikh Monsur Ali Lalu, Moni-ruzzaman Peara, Mahmudur Rashid and Basak -- have passed away while six players including Enayetur Rahman Khan are living abroad.
TEAM
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, Sattar, Pran Govinda Kundu, Mujibur Rahman, Khondokar Nurunnabi, Lutfar Rahman, Aniruddha Chatterjee, Sanjit Kumar Dey, Mahmudur Rashid, Saidur Rahman Patel, Dewan Sirajuddin and Nihar Kanti Das, Tanvir Mazhar Tanna (manager), Nani Basak (coach).