The government is taking measures to further promote football as a more common sport in the country, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said.

The premier made the comments on Thursday (Apr 04) while addressing a prize distribution ceremony of Bangabandhu Gold Cup and Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournaments 2018 at Bangabandhu National Stadium, reports UNB.

"We are constructing mini-stadiums in each upazila so that children can always play football," she said.

The prime minister also said, "We want the country's children to take part in sports and cultural activities; so they become mentally sound and physically fit while learning discipline."

Hasina said Bangladesh set an example for arranging such big inter-school tournaments.

She mentioned that around 11,18,515 boys from 65,790 schools participated in the Bangabandhu Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournament, while 11,16,900 girls from 65,700 schools took part in the Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Gold Cup Primary School Football Tournament.

Earlier, the prime minister watched the final match of Bangamata Begum Fazilatunnesa Mujib Gold Cup from the Bangabandhu Stadium VIP Lounge, reads the report.

In the Bangamata Gold Cup final, Pachrukhi Government Primary School (Nandail) of Mymensingh beat Tepurgari BK Government Primary School, Lalmonirhat of Rangpur.

In the Bangabandhu Gold Cup final, Horipur Government Primary School, Joyentapur of Sylhet beat Dokkhin Kanialkhatha Government Primary School, Nilphamari of Rangpur.

The Bangabandhu Gold Cup Primary School football tournament first began in 2010, while Bangamata Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib Gold Cup in 2011.

The two tournaments were held at unions, upazilas, districts and divisional phases and finally concluded at national phase through final matches.

The tournaments were organized by the Primary and Mass Education Ministry.