Scarcity of quality footballers will restrict the two to mediocrity, admitted the officials of the club in their presentation ahead of the inaugural Professional Football league at the BFF Bhaban yesterday.

Abahani, 12-time champions in the Khulna league, have a record of winning nine titles in a row and have a one-crore Taka budget similar to Rahmatganj.

"We are making a medium level team. We are hoping to do well in the B. League. We have a strong fan base in Khulna, so we will look forward to make most of our home matches," said Mustafizur Rahman Bablu, Event Manager of the 32-old-year club.

They also train under-16 and -19 teams at their own expenses, which will be a good pipeline to supply booters in the future.

"We have recruited 4/5 players from the Dhaka Premier League. The others have also played in Dhaka. They are young and talented and hope to give surprises as our preparation and practice have already proved fruitful," said head coach Ali Ajgar Nasir, an AFC 'C' Licence holder. He added that they have already contacted Ugandan striker Dolly.

Meanwhile, old-Dhaka outfit Rahmatganj have secured conytracts of 18 local players and will soon register them with the Bangladesh Football Federation.

"Our budget is Tk one crore and our highest paid player is getting Tk five lakh," informed Rahmatganj general secretary Tipu Sultan without naming the top paid footballer.

Rahmatganj, who began their journey with the slogan -- Sports, Peace and Unity -- in 1933, were promoted to first division in 1964 as unbeaten second division champions and were in tremendous from in the early years of the new millennium, finishing fourth and third in 2000 and 2001 seasons in the Premier League.

"We won the first division league title in 2005 and have a fighting team. We will recruit about three foreign players to strengthen the squad," said former national goalkeeper and coach Motaleb Hossain, who holds AFC's 'B' Licence.

Star player and captain Shoyeb Hossain Sony, however, was a bit optimistic. "We will fight for good results and want to finish in the top half," said the central defender, who had talks with Mohammedan but decided to stay at his old team.