He came up with the remark while addressing a press conference arranged by Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) at the BFF House on the occasion of the departure of four Bangladeshi young booters for Brazil for a month-long higher training.
The four Bangladeshi junior footballers -- Jogen Lorka (Rajshahi), Latifur Rahman Nahid (Rangpur), Omar Faruq Mithu (Kurigram) and Nazmul Akanda (Rangpur) – will leave Dhaka on Tuesday late night for the training in the football crazy country to groom themselves at the CR Vasco da Gama Football Club of Rio de Janeiro.
“It’s just the beginning. We want to send more young footballers to Brazil for higher training. Even, we’re also keen to send our women footballers there,” Russell said.
Brazilian Ambassador to Bangladesh Joao Tabajara de Oliveira Junior, BFF President Kazi Salahuddin, Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs MJH Javed, acting Youth and Sports Secretary Dr Mohammad Zafar Uddin, BFF women wing Chairman and FIFA council member Mahfuza Akter Kiron were also present on the occasion.
Focusing on the relationship between Brazil and Bangladesh, Ambassador Joao Tabajara de Oliveira Junior assured that their government will look into the matter and work together for the development of football in Bangladesh.
Earlier, the National Sports Council selected the four booters from initially chosen 20 footballers from two tournaments -- U-15 Development Cup and U-17 Bangabandhu Gold Cup -- after conducting a two-day final selection trial in November last year.