BFF names United Health Care as new Football League sponsor

Hours after Petronas denied links to the Bangladesh Football League, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) announced United Health Care as the tournament’s official title sponsor.

The league’s first two rounds were played without a logo or sponsor, and ahead of the third round, BFF hastily declared Petronas as the title sponsor. However, on Monday morning, Petronas published a statement on its website clarifying that it had no official agreement with the Bangladesh Football Federation.

The statement put BFF in an embarrassing position and sparked widespread criticism throughout the day. Later, the federation issued a revised announcement naming a new sponsor.

Amid heavy criticism of BFF’s handling of the sponsorship process, federation president Tabith Awal shifted the blame to the intermediary organisation. He explained that BFF had actually signed an agreement with United Group, which operates in Bangladesh as an associate of Petronas.

Tabith Awal said, “We signed with the organisation that provided us with the name and logo. Beyond that, we had no additional information. If their headquarters did not approve it, they are entitled to deny the agreement.”

According to sources, BFF’s agreement was indeed with United Group, which initially supplied Petronas’ name and logo. But after receiving objections from Petronas’ headquarters in Malaysia, United Group withdrew the name and instead offered one of its own subsidiaries, United Health Care, as the title sponsor.