Sheikh Mohammad Aslam, the legendary Bangladesh footballer is expecting a revival of football in Bangladesh under the governance of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus-led interim government following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. 

Speaking over the phone from his home in Dhaka on Friday, the all-time top scorer in Dhaka First Division League with 177 goals seemed to have seen a ray of hope after Muhammad Yunus was chosen as the head of interim government. "He is a sports lover. He was the man whose initiative created a rare opportunity for us to witness the legendary Zinedin Zidan in Bangladesh 18 years ago.”

“I am optimistic that he will try to bring reformation in all the spheres of the society including the country’s sports and football, “The 66-year-old Aslam opined. 

Aslam who also played for East Bengal in 1991, nowadays keeps himself fit by playing tennis. But due to the disaster that prevailed over one month, especially in July, Aslam was forced to lock himself in his house. “I live in Shahbag and the violence occurred most in that area. I had gone out of home once or twice on the emergency during the phase. It was not the students or our citizens who anchored the hooliganism. Most of the miscreants came from outside.” 

Along with hundreds of common people, the sports personalities were also attacked by these hooligans. Their properties were looted. 

Aslam revealed the office of the Bangladesh Football Federation was also ransacked. BFF’s senior vice-president Salam Murshedy who already had been imposed a big fine by Fifa due to corruption also resigned from his post on Thursday.

Aslam is waiting for the expulsion of BFF president Kazi Salahuddin. Salahuddin who has been sitting on the president's chair for the last 15 years has already been threatened by a group of football lovers to resign immediately. The group under the banner of Bangladesh Football Ultras demonstrated also in front of the BFF office on Tuesday.

Aslam explained, “Salahuddin-led BFF has done nothing for the development of football in Bangladesh. Now, the Yunus-led caretaker government has asked one of the 'advisers' (they are not called ministers) Asif Mahmud from the Students Against Discrimination group to try to rejuvenate the country’s sports including football. I hope, the people like us who wanted betterment of the game in the country, will be called and made involved.” 

Aslam also divulged that the students are playing a crucial role now to bring the peace back in the country. They have come up, resisting the hooligans and restricting them from burglary. “They are collecting the looted properties, sometimes even snatching from the miscreants and depositing at the respective police stations. Even they are unitedly maintaining traffic on the roads and even punishing whenever someone trying to assualt any people,” concluded Aslam.