The Fifa World Cup Trophy finally arrived in Dhaka and was officially unveiled at the city’s Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel yesterday.
The venue where the golden trophy will be displayed was shifted from Bangabandhu National Stadium to Radisson due to logistic problem, confirmed BFF president Kazi Salahuddin. The schedule for Wednesday and Thursday programmes will be the same as before.
The 36.5 centimeter golden trophy landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 12.25pm yesterday. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy, other BFF vice presidents and officials were present at the airport to receive the trophy, which came from UAE via a chartered flight.
The trophy was taken to the Banga Bhabhan to President Abdul Hamid. Abdul Hamid is the only person from Bangladesh who touched the Fifa World Cup trophy and also the first man to hold the trophy in South Asia.
“What is unique is that only the World Cup winning team players and the head of states have the right to hold the trophy. You are lucky that Bangladesh is the first stop in South Asia and your head of state is the first to hold it,” said Venkatesh Kini, deputy president of Coca Cola India & South West Asia at the unveiling program yesterday.
The trophy was then carried to Gana Bhabhan to the prime minister’s residence at 4pm. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her family member took pictures with the trophy while it was there for an hour. After that, the trophy was taken to Radisson and it will stay there for two days.
Rumors of where the famous trophy would be kept were spreading throughout the day. It was learnt that the venue was changed due to security concerns, although Kazi Salahuddin claimed the reason was logistical support issues.
“The main reason we changed the program were logistics problems. The instructions came from Atlanta, head of Coca Cola and from Zurich (Fifa head office), who gave the decision. Our mistake is that we didn’t inform Fifa earlier about BNS as the venue,” said the BFF chief.
“It is a momentous occasion for Bangladesh be able to host the Fifa World Cup and a fantastic feeling that Coca Cola has been able to bring this trophy for the people of Bangladesh to see,” he added.
The organisers earlier planned to accommodate 15,000 spectators during the trophy’s two-day stay at the Bangabandhu National Stadium and Debasish Deb, country manager of Coca Cola, confirmed that the schedule would be the same at Radisson.
BFF senior vice president Abdus Salam Murshedy was delighted about the Trophy tour. “It’s a very special day for football and for Bangladesh. Actually I’m very emotional today. Today is a historical day for our football and country. It was like a dream that the trophy will stay for three days now it’s not a dream anymore,” he said.
This is the first time the original World Cup trophy will be touring the country. Eleven years ago a replica of the 2002 Fifa World Cup trophy landed in Bangladesh.
This is the third time that the Fifa World Cup trophy is taking a world tour. The 2013/2014 Trophy Tour started from Rio de Janeiro on September 12 and will visit 88 countries in 267 days and cover 149,576.78km (92,942.702 miles) before returning to Brazil ahead of the World Cup next year.
Source: Dhaka Tribune