# 2020–21 Saif Sporting Club season

The 2020–21 season is the Saif SC's 5th season since its establishment in 2016 and their 4th consecutive season in the Bangladesh Premier League after promoting in 2017.
On 16 March 2020, All sorts of sports activities in Bangladesh were postponed until 31 March as a precaution to combat the spread of coronavirus in the country, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. So beginning of this season was delayed.

## Season review
### Pre-season

Before beginning of the season, Saif Sporting Club was looking forward to replace their head coach Drago Mamic & renew contract with team captain Jamal Bhuyan. Saif was also interested to replace foreign players & some local youths. Jahongir Ergashev and Murolimzhon Akhmedov already left the club to join FK Khujand and FC Neftchi respectively. On 24 September, it was announced that Emery Bayisenge joining Rwandan club AS Kigali on a one-year loan deal from Saif SC. As of a Rwandan news publisher, the transfer fee was 12 millions Rwandan franc.
On 29 October, managing director Nasiruddin Chowdhury confirmed that they’re bringing belgian coach Paul Put to replace Mamic.
On 31 October, Saif SC sent names of three players they want to let go for the 2020-21 season to BFF. The players were forward Mehebub Hasan Nayan & Kafsut Taius along with defender Nazmul Hossain Akondo.
On 11 November, the club officially announced the signing of Emmanuel Ariwachukwu, John Okoli, Kenneth Ikechukwu and Sirozhiddin Rakhmatullaev.
On 29 November, Saif SC played a pre-season friendly with Bangladesh Police FC. The match was won by 2-0 as Kenneth & John found the net.

## Players

Saif Sporting Club Limited squad for 2020–21 season.
    As of 19 April 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | BAN | Pappu Hossain |
| 2 | DF | BAN | Yeasin Arafat |
| 3 | DF | BAN | Rahmat Mia |
| 4 | MF | UZB | Sirozhiddin Rakhmatullaev |
| 5 | DF | BAN | Riyadul Hasan Rafi (Vice-captain) |
| 6 | MF | BAN | Jamal Bhuyan (Captain) |
| 8 | FW | NGA | John Okoli |
| 10 | MF | BAN | Shahedul Alam Shahed Sr. |
| 12 | MF | BAN | Sazzad Hossain |
| 14 | MF | BAN | Mohammad Al Amin |
| 15 | DF | NGA | Emmanuel Ariwachukwu |
| 17 | FW | BAN | Foysal Ahmed Fahim |
| 19 | FW | BAN | Arifur Rahman |
| 20 | FW | BAN | Maraz Hossain Opi |
| 21 | DF | BAN | Imran Hasan Rimon |
| 22 | GK | BAN | Shanto Kumar Ray |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 27 | MF | BAN | Sagor Hossain |
| 28 | MF | BAN | Abu Shaeid |
| 29 | FW | BAN | Rahim Uddin |
| 30 | GK | BAN | Saiful Islam |
| 31 | GK | BAN | Emon Hawladar |
| 32 | FW | NGA | Kenneth Ikechukwu |
| 33 | DF | BAN | Abid Ahmed |
| 34 | MF | BAN | Jayed Ahmed |
| 41 | DF | BAN | Tanvir Hossain |
| 44 | DF | BAN | Sabuz Hossain |
| 55 | DF | BAN | Sobug Chandra Das |
| 88 | MF | BAN | Nayan Miah |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| 4 | MF | Sirozhiddin Rakhmatullaev | FK Mash'al Mubarek | Free transfer | 11 November 2020 |
| 8 | FW | John Okoli | Bandırmaspor | Free transfer | 11 November 2020 |
| 15 | DF | Emmanuel Ariwachukwu | FK Andijon | Free transfer | 11 November 2020 |
| 32 | FW | Kenneth Ikechukwu | Göcmenköy IYSK | Free transfer | 11 November 2020 |
| 6 | MF | Jamal Bhuyan | Kolkata Mohammedan | End of loan | 17 March 2021 |

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 7 | FW | Jafar Iqbal | Dhaka Mohammedan | ৳150000 ($1780) | 11 December 2020 |
| 9 | FW | Fayia Kobba Jr. | Unknown | Free transfer | November 2020 |
| 11 | FW | Mehebub Hasan Nayan | Rahmatganj MFS | Free transfer | October 2020 |
| 15 | MF | Murolimzhon Akhmedov | FC Neftchi Kochkor-Ata | Free transfer | 1 August 2020 |
| 23 | MF | Deiner Córdoba | Unknown | Free transfer | 1 November 2020 |
| 25 | DF | Nazmul Hossain Akondo | Arambagh KS | November 2020 | October 2020 |
| 62 | FW | Jahongir Ergashev | FK Khujand | Free transfer | 18 July 2020 |
| 99 | FW | Kafsut Taius | Free Agent | - | October 2020 |
| 26 | DF | Ariful Islam | Sheikh Jamal DC | ৳5,00,000 ($5,900) | 24 March 2021 |
| – | FW | Shakib Bepary | Dhaka Wanderers Club | Free transfer | January 2021 |

### Loans out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Start Date | End Date |
| 6 | MF | Jamal Bhuyan | Kolkata Mohammedan | not disclosed | 5 November 2020 | 17 March 2021 |
| – | MF | Emon Mollah | Uttar Baridhara Club | Free | December 2020 | End of season |
| 8 | DF | Emery Bayisenge | A.S. Kigali | $12,200 | 24 September 2020 | End of season |
    Note :
Italic names refer to the players who have transferred from the youth team.

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| BPL | 16 January 2021 | 14 September 2021 | Matchday 1 | 4th | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 48 | 37 | +11 | 058.33 |
| Federation Cup | 23 December 2020 | 10 January 2021 | Group Stage | Final | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 4 | +11 | 083.33 |
| Independence Cup | Cancelled | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | !— |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 30 | 19 | 2 | 9 | 63 | 41 | +22 | 063.33 |
Last updated: 14 September 2021 Source: GSA

### Federation Cup
#### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Saif Sporting Club | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | +9 | 9 | Advance to Quarter Finals |
| 2 | Arambagh KS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 | Advance to Quarter Finals |
| 3 | Uttar Baridhara Club | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 | |
| 4 | Brothers Union | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 0 | |

#### Knockout phase
### Premier League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Sheikh Jamal DC | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 53 | 28 | +25 | 52 | |
| 3 | Dhaka Abahani (Q) | 24 | 13 | 8 | 3 | 65 | 29 | +36 | 47 | Qualification for AFC Cup qualifying play-offs |
| 4 | Saif Sporting Club | 24 | 14 | 2 | 8 | 48 | 37 | +11 | 44 | |
| 5 | Chittagong Abahani | 24 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 38 | 28 | +10 | 44 | |
| 6 | Dhaka Mohammedan | 24 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 36 | 25 | +11 | 43 | |
* ↑ Sheikh Jamal cannot qualify for Asian Football Confederation competitions as they were not granted an AFC Cup license for 2022.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 14 September 2021. Source: Soccerway

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | - | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | - | A | H | A | A | H | - | A |
| Result | D | W | L | W | L | W | - | W | L | L | W | W | W | D | L | L | W | L | W | - | W | W | W | W | W | - | L |
| Position | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### Matches
## Statistics
### Goals

    As of matches played till 14 September 2021
| Rank | Player | Position | Total | BPL | Federation Cup | Independence Cup |
| 1 | John Okoli | MF | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Kenneth Ikechukwu | FW | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 3 | Sazzad Hossain | MF | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Yeasin Arafat | DF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Foysal Ahmed Fahim | FW | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Maraz Hossain | FW | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | Emmanuel Ariwachukwu | DF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 8 | Arifur Rahman | FW | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 9 | Sirozhiddin Rakhmatullaev | MF | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Riyadul Hasan Rafi | DF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Jamal Bhuyan | MF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Own goals | Own goals | Own goals | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 63 | 48 | 15 | 0 |