The Bangladesh Football Federation declared Abahani 3-0 winners against Farashganj SC after it was found that the latter had fielded an overage player in the opening match of the Walton U-18 Football Tournament on Thursday.
Abahani had lost that match by 1-0. However, after protest from the Dhanmondi-based club, the disciplinary committee looked into the matter and found that Farashganj's Angkan Mandal alias Sabuj Roy had used two different birth certificates in two tournaments he played this year. In this tournament, his documents stated that he was born on June 1, 2001, making him just eligible for participation. However, the same person had played in the third division league where his birth date was May 18, 1994.
The committee also decided to suspend the player from the whole tournament.
Despite the defeat, Farashganj kept their chances of qualifying for the last four alive with a 3-1 win over Muktijoddha Sangsad in their second match of Group D yesterday. Elsewhere, Saif Sporting Club moved into the semifinals after inflicting a 2-1 defeat on Sheikh Russel KC in their Group A fixture.
