Abahani Limited (Chittagong)
Chittagong Abahani Limited, also known as Chattogram Abahani, is a sports club based on Chittagong, Bangladesh. An wing of Abahani Limited was established at Chittagong in 1980 known as Chittagong Abahani. Though it is an wing of Abahani Limited, Chittagong Abahani has its own directorial board & club structure. It is considered as the most successful football club from Chittagong. It is currently a team of Bangladesh Premier League.
The team was relegated from Bangladesh Premier League in 2010–11 season. It again gained the promotion to Premier League by becoming champion of the 2013 Bangladesh Championship League. The club host Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup, a bi-annual tournament in memory of their founder, Sheikh Kamal. They won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2015. The club won their first major domestic trophy in 2016 by winning the 2016 Independence Cup under the guidance of Slovak coach Jozef Pavlik. Chittagong Abahani had a fierce rivalry with Chittagong Mohammedan earlier in Chittagong Premier League and later in Bangladesh Premier League.
History
1980–2000: Beginnings
In late 1970s, Didarul Alam Chowdhury was inspired by the Dhaka-based club Abahani Limited Dhaka. He is a football organizer from Chittagong. Didarul wanted to establish an wing of Abahani in Chittagong for the betterment of Sports in Chittagong. He convened a meeting with other local organizers on 10 October 1980. With the meeting, Chittagong Abahani officially started its journey.Iqbal Khan, popular footballer of Chittagong and father of Tamim Iqbal & Nafees Iqbal, played a vital role Chittagong Abahani's inception. He also played for Chittagong Abahani. Chittagong Abahani won their first-ever Chittagong League title under his captaincy.
2000–2014: Initiation at Top Level
Chittagong Abahani qualified for the 2000-01 National Football Championship by crowning 1999 Chittagong League title. The team finished 3rd in the NFC season. In 2001-02 National Football Championship, Ctg Abahani finished at Super Four. Chittagong Abahani also became runners-up twice of Chittagong League in 2000s decade.In 2007, Bangladesh Football Federation started B. League, country's first professional football league. Chittagong Abahani was one of the founding teams of the league. After struggling in the first three seasons, Ctg Abahani relegated to Bangladesh Championship League in 2010–11 season.
The port city outfit finished at the bottom in their first BCL season. However, there was no relegation system for second tier in that time which saved the team from demotion. The Blue Pirates made a strong comeback in next season becoming Champion of 2013-14 BCL & came back to top tier. Chittagong Abahani finished at 9th in 2014-15 BPL, their returning season to top tier.
2015–present: Beginning of The Revolutionary Era
In November 2014, Tarafder Ruhul Amin of Saif Powertec Limited became chairman of Chittagong Abahani Directorial Board. Saif Powertec Limited becomes new sponsor of Chittagong Abahani.In 2015, Chittagong Abahani organised inaugural edition of Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup at M. A. Aziz Stadium, Chittagong before the 2015-16 domestic season. It was the first international club tournament at Chittagong since 1982. Chittagong Abahani won the tournament beating Kolkata giant East Bengal in final. The huge attendance of the final broke all the recent records. The port city outfit gave their arrival message as a rising giant with this tournament.
In May 2016, Chittagong Abahani won 2016 Independence Cup under their first ever foreign coach Jozef Pavlik. It was the first domestic major trophy of the club history. Chittagong Abahani finished at 2nd in 2016 BPL, their best result ever. They signed Bangladesh national team Captain Mamunul Islam, Bhutan international Chencho Gyeltshen, former Haiti international Fabrice Noel & Leonel Saint Preux for this season.
Chittagong Abahani also become runners-up of 2017 Independence Cup, 2017 Federation Cup & finished 3rd in 2017-18 BPL. However, the Blue Pirates performed down in 2018–19 season as they knocked out from both tournaments in quarterfinal & obtained 8th position in the league.
Maruful Haque Era
Current squad
Chittagong Abahani Ltd. squad for 2019–20 season.Personnel
Current Technical Staff
As of November 2019| Position | Name |
| Head Coach |  Maruful Haque |
| Assistant Coach |  Tajuddin Taju |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Mohammad Poniruzzaman |
| Physio | Fuad Hasan Hawlader |
| Team Manager | Arman Aziz |
Coaches
- Asaduzzaman Jhontu
- Shafiqul Islam Manik
- Jozef Pavlik
- Zulfiker Mahmud Mintu
- Saiful Bari Titu
- Zulfiker Mahmud Mintu
- Maruful Haque
Board of Directors
| Position | Name |
| President | M. Abdul Latif |
| Vice-president | Tarafder MD Ruhul Amin |
| General Secretary | Shamsul Haque Chowdhury |
| Director | Mahbubul Alam |
| Secretary | Shakil Mahmud Chowdhury |
Team records
Head coach's record
| Coach | From | To | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | %W |
| Shafiqul Islam Manik | 10 August 2015 | January 2016 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
 Jozef Pavlík | 30 March 2016 | 21 September 2016 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Zulfiker Mahmud Mintu | 21 September 2016 | 31 December 2016 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Saiful Bari Titu | 9 January 2017 | 4 January 2018 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Zulfiker Mahmud Mintu | 4 January 2018 | 3 August 2019 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Maruful Haque | October 2019 | Present | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Top Scorers by Season
| Season | Player | BPL | Federation Cup | Independence Cup | Total Goals |
| 2017-18 | Tawhidul Alam Sabuz | 8 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| 2018–19 |  Momodou Bah | 6 | 2 | 3 | 11 |
| 2019-20 |  Nixon Guylherme | 4 | 1 | – | 5 |
All-time Top Scorers of The Team
Since 2017–18 season.| Ranking | Name | Years | Goals |
| 1 |  Momodou Bah | 2018-19 | 11 |
| 2 | Tawhidul Alam Sabuj | 2017-18 | 10 |
| 3 |  Nduka Alison | 2017-18 | 6 |
| 4 | Zahid Hossain | 2017-18 | 5 |
| 4 | Magalan Ugochukwu | 2018-19 | 5 |
| 4 | Afeez Olawale Oladipo | 2017-18 | 5 |
| 4 | Nixon Guylherme | 2019– | 5 |
| 5 | Nkwocha Kingsley Chigozie | 2019 | 4 |
| 5 | Matthew Chinedu | 2019– | 4 |
| 5 |  Kpehi Didier Brossou | 2019– | 4 |
| 6 | Sohel Mia | 2018-19 | 3 |
| 6 | Shakhawat Rony | 2017-18, 2019- | 3 |
Source:
- As of 4 April 2020.
- Goals scored in BPL, Federation Cup & Independence Cup are counted in the above list.
All-time Top scorers in BPL
| Ranking | Name | Years | Goals |
| 1 | Tawhidul Alam Sabuj | 2017-18 | 8 |
| 2 | Momodou Bah | 2018-19 | 6 |
| 3 | Nduka Alison | 2017-18 | 4 |
| 3 | Nkwocha Kingsley Chigozie | 2019 | 4 |
| 3 | Zahid Hossain | 2017-18 | 4 |
| 3 | Nixon Guylherme | 2020– | 4 |
| 7 | Afeez Olawale Oladipo | 2017-18 | 3 |
| 7 | Sohel Mia | 2018-19 | 3 |
| 7 | Magalan Ugochukwu | 2018-19 | 3 |
| 7 |  Matthew Chinedu | 2020– | 3 |
| 7 | Didier Brossou | 2020– | 3 |
Source:
- As of 4 April 2020.
Most appearances in BPL
| Ranking | Name | Years | App. |
| 1 | Mufta Lawal | 2017-19 | 39 |
| 2 | Monir Alam | 2018- | 29 |
| 3 | Koushik Barua | 2017- | 28 |
| 3 | Monaem Khan | 2018- | 28 |
| 5 | Mohammad Nehal | 2017- | 27 |
| 6 | Momodou Bah | 2018-19 | 24 |
| 7 |  Daniel Tagoe | 2018-19 | 23 |
| 8 | Arup Kumar Baidya | 2018-19 | 21 |
| 8 | Ashraful Islam | 2017-18 | 21 |
| 8 | Sahed Hossain | 2018-19 | 21 |
Source:
- As of 4 April 2020.
Recent Seasons
Stadium
The M. A. Aziz Stadium with 25000-plus capacity is the home venue of Chittagong Abahani. They play their home matches of BPL in this stadium. They also organise Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup, a biannual international football tournament, at this stadium.Kit manufacturers and shirt sponsors
Honours
League
- Chittagong Premier League
- *Champions : 1998-99
- *
- *Runners-up : 2003–04, 2005–06
- *
- *
- *
- *
- Bangladesh Championship League
- *Champions : 2013
- *
- Bangladesh Premier League
- *Runners-up : 2016
Cup
- Independence Cup
- *Winners : 2016
- *Runners-up : 2017
- *
- Federation Cup
- *Runners-up : 2017
Invitational
- Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup
- *Winners : 2015
- * Runners-up : 2019
Notable players
Asia
- Chencho Gyeltshen
- Daniel Tagoe