Bangladesh Football Federation

On 20 December 2001, President Sultan, also a member of the BNP-led coalition government, replaced the elected body of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) led by Harunur Rashid with an ad-hoc committee.^[4] On 10 January 2002, FIFA banned the BFF for violating FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) laws that only recognize a democratically elected committee to run a member's football authority. The ban was lifted on February 4, 2002, after the original elected committee was reinstated.^[5] Eventually, Rashid resigned alleged to have been forced by Sultan who remained in the president's seat after being unopposed in the April 26, 2003 BFF elections.^[6][7][8] In June 2007, FIFA extended the tenure of Sultans executive committee for another year.^[4]

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.^[9][10][11] 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, in 2007.^[12] Under Sultan's regime, Bangladesh also hosted the 2006 AFC Challenge Cup, the biggest football tournament to have taken place in the country.^[13]

On 15 December 2007, Sultan sent his resignation to FIFA, citing to personal reasons.^[14][15] On 16 December 2007, FIFA rejected Sultans resignation and threatened to ban the federation if an executive member resigned before the 2008 polls.^[16] 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.^{[17][18][19][20]} On 28 April 2008, Sultans tenure as president officially ended, with Kazi Salahuddin taking over his role.^[21][22]