The Bangladesh national football team is the nationally recognized football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). The Bangladesh Football Federation was first founded in 1972. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 1973 and of FIFA since 1976. Bangladesh was elected as a member of the AFC Executive Committee in 1982-1986 and 1998-2002.
Bangladesh's national team debuted in 1973 and has yet to qualify for the FIFA World Cup finals. By qualifying for it, Bangladesh is one of only two South Asian nations to achieve the feat; they were dismissed in the first round of their only Asian Cup appearance to date in 1980. The nation's best results came at South Asian level where it won the 2003 SAFF Gold Cup and were gold medalists at the 1999 South Asian Games. Bangladesh was one of Asia's emerging teams in the 1980s and early 1990s.
However, since the turn of the century, top-level football in Bangladesh is played somewhere in the shadow of the country's national cricket team. In 1895, the Dacca Sporting Association, or the DSA, was formed in a small tin house at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka. Eventually, during the early 1930s, numerous tournaments were being held in East Bengal, and it was observed that Bengalis there were improving in football.
In those days, Islington Corinthians from England toured all around the world and introduced their football to every country they visited. On 21 November 1937, the team visited Dhaka, where they took on the DSA XI. The Bengalis of Dhaka handed Corinthians their tour's first defeat, recording a 1-0 victory during their maiden encounter. The majority of the DSA XI players were students of Dhaka University. Thousands of people were overjoyed to see the English lose on the field that day.
While leaving, the opposition admitted to their defeat by stating, "I heard a lot about the Bengal tiger!". The first instance of a Bangladesh national football team was the emergence of the Shadhin Bangla football team during the 1971 Liberation War. They toured throughout India and helped fund the provisional Bangladesh government, by handing over all the prize money they earned from playing exhibition games during their tour.
Read also: Cricket Records: BAN-W vs SA-W
After gaining independence from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, a de facto national team called Dhaka XI was active the following year. On 27 July 1973, the Bangladesh football team played its first official game, a 2-2 draw against Thailand in the Merdeka Cup. Enayetur Rahman scored the country's first ever international goal and the second goal was scored by fellow striker Kazi Salahuddin. After the stalemate, the game went to penalties, where Bangladesh lost 5-6.
On 13 August 1973, after concluding their journey in Malaysia the team played a friendly in Singapore, and earned their first ever win by defeating the hosts 1-0, thanks to a goal from Nowsher. In August 1975, Bangladesh were again invited to partake in the Merdeka Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During their underwhelming tournament, the players were informed about the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and decided to abandon the tournament to return home amidst the political unrest.
Aside from competing in the 1976 King's Cup, Bangladesh remained inactive until 1978, when Werner Bickelhaupt was appointed as the country's first foreign coach. The team experienced internal conflict going into the 1978 Asian games in Bangkok, as the captaincy was stripped off the senior most player Monwar Hossain Nannu of Abahani and handed over to Shahidur Rahman Shantoo from Mohammedan SC, seven players from Abahani including Nannu quit the team in protest. The much depleted Bangladesh team struggled in the tournament losing to both Malaysia and India. Following this incident, the federation attempted to pick captains outside the two Dhaka giants for the next few years.
In March 1979, the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers began on home soil and surprisingly considering that this was their first time taking part in a qualifying tournament, Bangladesh guided by local trainer Anwar Hossain, opened their campaign with draws against Afghanistan and Qatar. The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was held in September in Kuwait, and Bangladesh were grouped with defending champions Iran as well as North Korea, Syria and China. The team now coached by Abdur Rahim, opened the tournament respectably with a narrow 3-2 defeat against North Korea. Their goals came from Kazi Salahuddin and Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu.
In 1985, Bangladesh took part in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, and were grouped along with India, Indonesia and Thailand. The country's first ever win at the qualifiers came against Indonesia. The game was held at the National Stadium, and the under-pressure home team had overturned a single goal deficit through Kaiser Hamid and Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu. They followed up the Indonesia result by edging past Thailand 1-0 in the next game. Nonetheless, the team finished bottom of the group, behind Thailand on goal difference.
Read also: SA vs BAN Cricket Tickets
In the wake of their first World Cup qualifying campaign, Bangladesh took part in the 1985 South Asian Games as one of the favorites. The team cruised through the group-stages, claiming their biggest ever win in an 8-0 thrashing of Maldives along the way, but luck was not on their side, losing to India on penalties in the final. During the 1990 World Cup qualifiers, the team only registered a single victory, which came in a 3-1 thrashing of Thailand.
Iranian legend Nasser Hejazi took charge of Bangladesh at the 1989 South Asian Games, and dropped experienced players (Sheikh Aslam, Wasim Iqbal and Md Mohsin) from the squad. After an error-prone team lost the final to Pakistan, the Mohammedan coach Hejazi was accused of having a bias against selecting players from rival club, Abahani. In 1995, following a series of managerial changes, Otto Pfister was appointed as coach. On 4 November 1995, with Pfister handing the team's captaincy to Monem Munna, Bangladesh won the 4-nation Tiger Trophy in Myanmar, which was the nation's very first major trophy.
On 12 January 2001, a historic moment occurred for the Bangladesh team, as they played their first match against a European nation, when they took on Bosnia & Herzegovina during the Sahara Cup and lost 2-0. On 18 March 2001, Firoj Mahmud Titu became the first Bangladeshi player to score against European opposition, as Bangladesh suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of FR Yugoslavia during the same competition. The team proceeded to grow more and more despondent, suffering elimination from the first Round of 2002 World Cup qualifiers with only 1 win from 4 games.
On 11 January 2002, FIFA imposed a ban on Bangladesh, due to the government violating the FIFA and AFC law that only recognizes a democratically elected committee to run a country's football federation. After failing to produce satisfactory results in the previous two years, coach György Kottán remained incharge of Bangladesh during the 2003 SAFF Championship which took place in Dhaka, between 10 January 2003 and 20 January 2003. Hosts Bangladesh started off the tournament by winning their opening game against Nepal (1-0), with Alfaz Ahmed scoring the only goal, 30 minutes into the match. In the following game, the team again won by a solitary goal, thanks to a late strike from Arif Khan Joy against Maldives. Bangladesh topped their group after winning the last game 3-0 against Bhutan, with goals coming from Farhad and Kanchan.
In the semifinals they faced India, who were the defending champions after defeating Bangladesh in the final in 1999. Bangladesh avenged their defeat from four years earlier by overcoming India 2-1, owing to a Golden goal by Motiur Munna and thus progressing to their second consecutive SAFF Championship final. However, before the final the Bangladesh team dealt a huge blow, as their captain Rajani Kanta Barman who played in every game during the tournament until then, picked up a suspension, denying him a chance to play in the next match.
Read also: Cricket Records: Bangladesh vs South Africa
In the final Bangladesh again faced Maldives, Hassan Al-Mamun replaced Rajani in defense and took up the captain's armband before the game. Rokonuzzaman Kanchan gave the hosts the early lead and Bangladesh spent the rest of the first half dominating possession. During the second half a defensive blunder by Bangladesh lead to Ali Umar scoring the equalizer. The game remained tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes and even after another 30 minutes of extra time the two sides could not be separated.
The 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, began from March 2003. It was another devastating qualifying campaign for Bangladesh, a defeat at the hands of Laos and a draw against Hong Kong, concluded their Asian Cup qualification hopes. On 24 January 2009, Bangladesh appointed Brazilian coach Dido. Under his guidance the team saw an upturn in results, winning two of the three 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and advanced into the main tournament. However, he was sacked within 11 months as he refused to select established national team players. During his last interview before leaving Bangladesh, Dido criticized the country's footballing structure and stated that it was corrupt. This again raised questions about BFF president Kazi Salahuddin's management of the country's football.
The 2009 SAFF Championship saw Bangladesh once again hosting the tournament. On 29 June 2011, after a goalless away leg, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 3-0 on aggregate in Dhaka during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers-first round. The game took place only four days after Nikola Ilievski was appointed as the team's head coach. This allowed Bangladesh to advance to the second round to face Lebanon. The first game was played in Beirut on 23 July 2011, where the hosts won 4-0.
In January 2013, Lodewijk de Kruif took charge of the team, and under his leadership, they even failed to advance from the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers, a tournament held to assist lower-ranked teams. Bangladesh played their first four games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Australia and Jordan, losing all of the matches apart from their home game against Tajikistan, where they drew 1-1.
On 29 June 2016, the BFF appointed Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, initially on a short-term contract, to guide the national team during the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualification playoff round 2 matches against Bhutan. Saintfiet called up the veteran striking pair of Jahid Hasan Ameli and Enamul Haque for the encounter, but to no avail. Following a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Dhaka, Bhutan inflicted a 3-1 defeat on Bangladesh at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu during the second leg. In May 2018, Jamie Day took charge of the team.
Although the team disappointed during the 2018 SAFF Championship, Bangladesh advanced to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers - AFC second round by defeating Laos 1-0 on aggregate. They were grouped together with neighbors India and Afghanistan, alongside Asian powerhouses Qatar and Oman.
The Bangladesh national football team plays in bottle green shirts and dark red shorts embedded. Also with red and green stripes. Green and red are the historic national colors of Bangladesh, originating from its the national flag. The red represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the country's independence, while the green represents the lushness of its land.
In 2011, BFF announced Grameenphone as their new sponsor and kit provider on a three-year contract (2011-2013). After half a decade without a sponsor, India's TVS Motor Company tied up with the Bangladesh national team for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification - AFC second round, in a deal which lasted for two years (2019-2021).
The President's Gold Cup which was predominantly held every year from 1981 to 1993, saw the Bangladesh Football Federation enter two teams for Bangladesh; Bangladesh Red and Green (1981-1986; 1993) and Bangladesh White and Blue (1987). This was due to the fact, that during the 80s many players were not able to get into the national team even after performing well in the country's domestic league. Alongside the senior national team, the other national team mainly consisted of "second string" or youth international players. Having a two separate teams was very common during the 80s and 90s for developing South Asian countries, both Nepal (Nepal B) and Pakistan (Pakistan B) had second string team's.
The 1989 President's Gold Cup saw Bangladesh Red win the tournament. The hosts, defeated South Korea University football team on penalties to lift the trophy, after knocking out the Green team in the semi-finals. However, this is not considered to be Bangladesh's first international trophy, as the tournament mainly consisted of club teams. The green team was the youth national team, while the red team was made out of senior international's, and was known to be the main national team. In the 1987 edition, Bangladesh White and Blue took part in the tournament.
Bangladesh plays majority of their home matches at the National Stadium, Dhaka, where they won the 2003 SAFF Championship. Before renovation in 2011, the National Stadium had a capacity close to 55,000, but with a new capacity of 36,000 it is still the largest stadium in Bangladesh. Ever since the inception of the Bangladesh Premier League in 2007, the stadium has been used to host majority of the league games.
In 2021, the National Stadium again underwent renovation, and has been scheduled to resume operations from 2025. The refurbishments will see addition of chairs in galleries and installation of LED giant screens. In the 70s and 80s, football in Bangladesh flourished with a well-renowned Dhaka First Division League, attracting fans nationwide. However, since the 2000s, domestic football's popularity has declined due to success in other sports and the national team's lack of achievements.
Outside the capital, both domestic and international football's popularity remains unwavering, with games in Sylhet and Jessore, drawing tons of fans. In August 2014, 50,000 spectators were present during a friendly between Bangladesh U23 and Nepal U23 at the Sylhet District Stadium. It was reported that the fans entered the stadium by breaking the main entrance, due to shortage in tickets.
Morocco: A Brief Overview
While the primary focus has been on Bangladesh, it’s worth briefly mentioning Morocco's football landscape. Morocco has a rich football history, marked by participation in multiple FIFA World Cups and a strong domestic league. The Moroccan national team, known as the Atlas Lions, has achieved significant success on the African continent and beyond.
Unfortunately, detailed historical data about direct matches or interactions between Bangladesh and Morocco national football teams wasn't provided in the initial text. Therefore, this section serves as a general context point.
Here's a summary table of key facts about the Bangladesh national football team:
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Governing Body | Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) |
| AFC Member Since | 1973 |
| FIFA Member Since | 1976 |
| World Cup Appearances | 0 |
| Asian Cup Appearance | 1 (1980) |
| Best Result | 2003 SAFF Gold Cup |
| Home Stadium | National Stadium, Dhaka |
Bangladesh Win The SAFF 2003 Highlights #SAFF #BDFootball #Bangladesh #support #football
Popular articles:
tags: #Morocco
