Dhaka– Bangladesh Premier League champions Dhaka Abahani Limited will play Maldives champions Maziya Sports and Recreation Club in their first Group E match of the AFC Cup 2017 on Tuesday with both the teams expressing their optimism to win the match. The match will kick off at 6:10 pm at the country’s premier sports venue — Bangabandhu National Stadium. Fox and Star Sports will telecast the match live.UNB agencyA 31-member team of the Maldives team, studded with eight national and four foreign players, arrived here on Sunday morning to play their away match, but cancelled their scheduled practice session on the day (Sunday) due to long journey and heavy traffic jam here.Dhaka Abahani Limited, which earlier placed in Group E of the Asian Club meet along with Maziya S&R, and JSW Bengaluru and Mohun Bagan AC of India will play each other on home and away basis.A total of 36 champion teams from Asia are taking part in the home and away basis tournament.Addressing a pre-match press conference at the BFF House on Monday, Head Coach of Dhaka Abahani Limited Drago Mamic said Tuesday’s match will be a keenly contested one and both the teams have 50-50 chance to win it. Abahani Captain Mamun Miah souhy blessingd from the countrymen to win the match and requested the footballlovers to inspire them appearing at the stadium on Tuesday.Addressing the pressmen, Head Coach of Maziya S&R Marjan Sekulovski said it will be a tough match. “The team who will play their best utilising the chnaces will win the match.”Captain of Maziya S&R Abdulla Asadhulla said, “Today (Monday) is the birthday of our coach and we like to give him the birthday gift winning the match.”The match tickets have already been printed as per AFC instructions. The gate-1 of Bangabandhu National Stadium will be exclusively reserved for the invited guests. No tickets will be required to enter through it.The price of the VIP seat for gate-2 is Tk 100 and that of gate-3 Tk 150. However, spectators will be able to enjoy the match from the East and West gallery with a ticket of Tk 50.Tickets will be available at the Abahani Club office in Dhanmondi, BFF House and at the stadium’s ticket counters from today (Monday).As no one will be allowed to enter the stadium without tickets for security reasons, interested students are asked to collect complementary tickets from the club office in advance by showing their ID cards.In the remaining group matches, Abahani Limited will play Mohun Bagan AC on April 4 at Rabindra Sarobar Stadium, meet JSW Bengaluru on April 18 at Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, face JSW Bengaluru on May 3 at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, play Maziya S&R on May 17 at National Stadium in Male and Mohun Bagan AC on May 31 at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka.
