Football in Bangladesh

Throughout history, football has been the most popular sport in Bangladesh and is governed by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF).

Compared to the past, the standard of Bangladeshi football has degraded due to mismanagement, lack of support and poor investment. An interest in cricket resulting from the nation’s success in Test Cricket and participation in the Cricket World Cup overshadowed the past fame in the nation’s football. But however this did not affect football’s popularity. More football tournaments are organized in and outside Dhaka than of any other sports and football fever grips the nation during every FIFA World Cup. Federation officials and experts are still hopeful about the development of football in the country in the next ten years despite financial obstacles and lack of professionalism.

History tells us why football is still popular in the country. During the liberation war in 1971, football was the way to create international awareness about the war of independence. The Swadhin Bangla Football Team was established which played 16 matches in India and was officially received by the BFF in 2009.

The period before the 1990s saw national soccer fever in league football, specifically in the Dhaka League, which possessed club teams which were famous both at home and abroad. League football was popular even before independence, from the 1940s to 1960s under Pakistan. There were quite a number of premier football clubs in Dhaka, in the 1940s, most prominent among them were Dhaka Wanderers, Victoria SC, Wari Club, Mohammedan SC, EP Gymkhana, Railways, and Fire service. A match between East Pakistan Governors XI vs. West Bengal XI was held at Dhaka in the late forties. The first Dhaka League was won by Bangladeshi Victoria SC in 1948, three years prior to the Mother Language Movement while still under Pakistani rule. Dhaka League was very prestigious in the South-Asia and Asia itself. Many of Dhaka league teams went on to become among the most successful teams in the Asian continent (mostly between the 1970s to the early 1990s). The league also went as far as having players from top European teams. Football was played both in the domestic leagues and abroad. Bangladeshi clubs such as BKSP and Bangladesh Red played with success in international football tournaments like Aga Khan Gold Cup, President Gold Cup, Dana Cup and Gothia Cup. BKSP won the later two in 1990 while Bangladesh Red were runners-up in the first President Gold Cup in 1981 and won it in 1989. Except that, Bangladeshi clubs bagged three more titles abroad: Quaid-E-Azam Trophy of Pakistan in 1985, Four-nation invitational tournament of Myanmar in 1995 and Jigme Dorji Wangchuk Memorial Football of Bhutan in 2003.