SA Sultan is a

Bangladesh Nationalist Party The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (), popularly abbreviated as BNP (), is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. It was founded on 1 September 1978 by President of Bangladesh, President Ziaur Rahman, wit ...

politician and a former member of parliament for Chandpur-4.

Early life

SA Sultan Titu was born in

Chandpur District Chandpur District () is a district located in Chattogram Division of Bangladesh. It was part of Comilla District until 15 February 1984.Musa, Muhammad. Brahmanbariar Itibrittyo, Shetu Prokashoni, Brahmanbaria,1998. History During the rule ...

Career

Sultan was elected to parliament from Chandpur-4 as a Bangladesh Nationalist Party candidate in 2001.

Bangladesh Football Federation

On 26 November 2001, Sultan, a member of the BNP-led coalition government, was appointed president of the

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn'') is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, ...

(BFF) , replacing AM Azizul Haque, who had been initially elected by the previous

Caretaker government A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...

. On 20 December 2001, Sultan replaced the elected body of the BFF led by general secretary, Harunur Rashid, with an ad-hoc committee. On 10 January 2002,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

banned the BFF for violating FIFA and

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC) laws that only recognize a democratically elected committee to run a member's football authority. The ban was lifted on 11 February 2002, after the original elected committee was reinstated. Eventually, Rashid resigned alleged to have been forced by Sultan who remained in the president's seat after being unopposed in the 26 April 2003 BFF elections. In June 2007, FIFA extended the tenure of Sultan's executive committee for another year. During his tenure as president, Sultan failed to hold district and division leagues on a consistent basis, while the country's top-tier league, the Dhaka Premier Division League, was held only four times from 2001 to 2006. Sultan's reign did see some success, with Bangladesh winning the 2003 SAFF Gold Cup as hosts and the introduction of the first professional national league, the

B.League The B.League is a men's professional basketball league in Japan. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that was operated by the FIBA-affi ...

, in 2007. Under Sultan's regime, Bangladesh also hosted the

2006 AFC Challenge Cup The 2006 AFC Challenge Cup was held between 1 and 16 April 2006 in Bangladesh. Sixteen teams were split into four groups, the top two in each group qualifying for the quarterfinals, and from then on a straight knockout contest. There was no qual ...

, the biggest football tournament to have taken place in the country. On 15 December 2007, Sultan sent his resignation to FIFA, citing to personal reasons. On 16 December 2007, FIFA rejected Sultans resignation and threatened to ban the federation if an executive member resigned before the 2008 polls. Nonetheless, despite facing heavy criticism for his previous decision to reign, along with numerous disputes with journalists, Sultan remained as BFF president until the 2008 elections. On 28 April 2008, Sultan's tenure as president officially ended, with

Kazi Salahuddin Kazi Salahuddin (; born 23 September 1953) is a Bangladeshi former football player currently serving as the president of South Asian Football Federation. He previously served as the president of Bangladesh Football Federation from 2008 to 2024. ...

taking over his role.

Awards

Sultan received the National Sports Award in 2005.

References

External links