People nowadays mostly watch cricket matches and they watch the FIFA World Cup every four years with great enthusiasm. In fact most people don’t even know about the Bangladesh Football Federation. if they are asked about it most don’t give a positive answer. but this was always the case, after the mid-ab till the early 2000s football aab the aa loved sport in Bangladesh. Even Beforehand the Liberation war, football was prominent in Bangladesh.
On July 25, 1971, a team from what was then East Pakistan faced a squad from West Bengal’s Nadia district in a small stadium in India. As soon as it started , the captain of East Pakistan hoisted a green flag which had a map of current Bangladesh right in the centre . The flag was paraded around the football field to gain applause from the large crowd. It was a contribution from the football team in the liberation war of Bangladesh.
Furthermore, from 1980 to 2000 Bangladeshi Football teams went on to be the most celebrated football Team in South Asia.The boys adorning the flag of Bangladesh even went on to compete with India for the top position in South Asian region .
Along with the club teams, the national football team was at the centre of attention of football fans, who watched their beloved side fight neck-and-neck before losing to the current Asian giants: Japan, South Korea, Iran, China, and then-strong teams like Syria, Thailand, Burma [Myanmar], Bahrain, and Oman in competitions such as Asian Cup qualifiers, World Cup pre-qualifiers, and the country’s President’s Cup.
Bangladesh is presently beaten by other South Asian minnows such as Bhutan and Nepal. Bangladesh, which contested the SAFF Championship final three times in a row from 1999 to 2005, surrendered five goals to Maldives, who they defeated 8-0 at the national and club levels. Even though this sounds like a fairy tale to the young generation yet this is the truth.
Iconic clubs:
Founded by Sheikh Kamal, Abahani Limited Dhaka, baobab its rivalry with Dhaka Mohammedan SC, which led to the well-known Dhaka Derby.
Achievements: Abahani won 17 domestic league titles and multiple Federation Cups.
Mohammedan Sporting Club, known as Mohammedan formed in 1936 in Dhaka and is one of oldest and far reaching football clubs, with a huge fan base.
The team has won 19 league and 10 Federation Cup titles. Mohammedan reached the Asian Club Championship semi-finals in 1988 and competed six times overall.
Rivalry On Home Ground: The Dhaka Derby refers to the rivalry with Dhaka Abahani. Now matches are held in the Shaheed Dhirendranath Stadium, holding a capacity of 18,000 people.
Today, Mohammedan and Abahani still play matches but cannot draw a crowd. In the past, hundreds or even thousands of football fans would travel to Dhaka from other districts to watch their team play. Not anymore.
The Fall of Bangladeshi football.
Domestic football :
In recent years, there has been an enormous decrease in popularity of the domestic league. This is primarily due to decades of corruption and dirty politics in Bangladeshi football. As a result, many people have lost confidence in the domestic league’s capacity to offer enjoyable and competitive football.
There is no system in place to find and develop talented individuals despite their being talented players.
And finally according to BFF the main reason for the downfall is lack of funding. Which is valid because compared to other countries’ funding Bangladesh is very Little.
So it is clear that Bangladeshi football had a good start but due to lack of funding, no long term system,no innovation, the indifference of the officials and lack of change in the dynamic area, Bangladeshi football lost Its glory.
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Writer,
MD.SAKAWAT ULLAH KOUSHIK
Intern at Content writing