A 27-member Dhaka Abahani Limited reached Kolkata on Monday (Aug 21) without three key players to play Mohun Bagan Super Giant of Kolkata in a play-off match of the AFC Cup Football 2023-24.

The six times Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) champions and curren runners-up Dhaka Abahani Limited will face Kolkata giant Mohun Bagan Super Giant on Tuesday (Aug 22) at 7:30 pm Bangladesh time at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.

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The winners of the match will qualify for the final round (Group Stage) of the 19th edition of the Asia's secondary club football tournament,  will begin on September 18.

Dhaka Abahani, which reached Kolkata in two batches --- first batch in the morning and the 2nd batch at 12 noon, dropped their three key players -custodian Pritom, Alomgir Molla and Emon Babu for fever and injuries.

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Earlier, Dhaka Abahani Limited has a plan to fly for Kolkata Sunday evening, but they are compelled to change schedule as they got Indian visa in late  (Sunday afternoon).

Abahani  scheduled to make their first and only practice session at the match venue in Kolkata today (Monday) evening.

Earlier in the preliminary round,  Dhaka Abahani advanced to the play-off stage of the AFC Cup Football eliminating Club Eagles of the Maldives by 2-1 goals at the Sylhet District Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

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On the other hand,  Kolkata Mohun Club eliminated Machhindra FC of Kathmandu beating them by 3-1 goals at the Kolkata Salt Lake Stadium, also in the Wednesday evening.

Dhaka Abahani and Kolkata Mohun Bagan Club faced each other on three occasions where Mohun Bagan Club enjoying upper hand beating Dhaka Abahani twice, both by 3-1 goals, while the remaining match ended in 1-1 draw.

Ahead of the match, it was learnt  that, the Mohan Bagan Club are in tense situation following inclusion of three foreign booters --Nigerian forward Ifegwu Ojukwu of Nigeria, St Vincent winger Cornelius Stewart and Brazilian defender Danilu-- in the Abahani line-up. 

Mohun Bagan officials assumed that the Abahani did not followed the proper process and guidelines to recruit the above three foreign players in their squad.