[goldenHuddlestone]

Bangladesh said Wednesday it would launch its first professional football league in a bid to boost the games flagging popularity in the cricket-mad South Asian nation. "We will launch the countrys first professional football league on December 21," the general secretary of the Bangladesh Football Federation, Anwarul Haq Helal, told AFP.

"We are confident that the professional league will reclaim the popularity the game has lost to cricket in the recent times," he said. Since 1997, football has been edged out as the countrys sporting favourite after the national cricket team won a place in World Cup cricket. In 2000, the cricket team also won a place in Test cricket, the highest cricketing standard in the world.

Football in Bangladesh is largely amateur although top teams sometimes sign players for undisclosed sums. Under the new format approved by the Asian Football Confederation, twelve teams - eight from Dhaka and four from regional cities - would take part in the league. "Its a big leap forward for the game in Bangladesh. For the first time in more than 100 years of football in this part of the world, the players can take the game seriously as a job," said Helal.

Football was introduced to the Indian subcontinent, including Bangladesh, during the late 19th century by soldiers of the then colonial power, Britain. Dhakas widely followed football league dates back to the 1950s although the standard of play has suffered due to the lack of a professional footing.