Dhaka: Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Kazi M Salahuddin on Tuesday apologised for the Bangladesh National Football Team’s failure in the SAFF Championship.

However, he hoped that the team will bounce back in the upcoming Bangabandhu Gold Cup International Football tournament leaving behind their failures.

The BFF president came up with the hope while speaking at the draw ceremony of the 4th edition of the Bangabandhu Gold Cup held at a hotel in Dhaka.

‘We’ll surely bounce back through Bangabandhu Gold Cup leaving the failures in the SAFF Championship behind,’ he said.

Predicting a bright future for the Bangladesh football, Salahuddin said the BFF is working with Vision-2022. ‘As a result, Bangladesh emerged champions in the SAFF Under-16 Championship and the AFC Under-19 Women’s Championship.’

Earlier, Finance Minister AMA Muhith inaugurated the draw ceremony as the chief guest, UNB reported.

The fourth edition of the prestigious football tournament will be held at Bangabandhu National Stadium (BNS) in Dhaka and Jessore District Stadium (JDS) starting on 8 January.

A total of eight teams split in two groups will compete in the meet.

Hosts Bangladesh have been put in Group-A with defending champions Malaysia, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Group-B comprises of Bahrain, the Maldives, Cambodia and Bangladesh Under-23 team.

The JDS will host the first four group matches while the remaining matches, including semifinals and final, will be held at the BNS.

Bangladesh wrapped up their journey in the seven-nation SAFF Championship with a 3-0 victory beating all-loser Bhutan, but made their early exit from the South Asian football tournament losing to the Maldives by 1-3 goals and conceding a humiliating 0-4 goals defeat to defending champions Afghanistan.