Ferguson, who will stay in Bangladesh for nine days, will leave a guideline for the local coaches to continue the residential camp to groom future footballers.

Canary Wharf, a British construction firm, picked the footballers across from the country under its programme with help of local coaches in a bid to produce footballers for the premier league within two to three years.

"I am impressed with the facilities here," Ferguson told of the sports institute in Savar. "The body language of the people who are involved in this also looks encouraging. I am hopeful this project will be fruitful."

Ferguson, whose previous knowledge about Bangladesh football came when he was involved in Chittagong Abahani's tour to London in 2002, said that boys in Europe get basic training from the age of four years.

"The difference is that in this part, they don't get such training before being 12 or 13. This gap means a lot because at this age, they can hardly pick up the things that should have been taught at 4-5 years," he said.

A total of 36 footballers will be chosen for long-term camp.

Zakir Khan, director of Canary Wharf's Community and Sports Development Department, informed that the exceptional findings from the final selection would be sent to England for better training as it had been promised.

"The number of players would three to four. We've had a talk with Beckham Academy and they have agreed support the players for two-week camps," Zakir told.

Chief coach Golam Sarwar Tipu, co-ordinator of the project Fazlur Rahman Babul and Bangladesh Football Federation vice-president Monir Ahmed were also present.