Bangladesh national football team


The Bangladesh National Football Team is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation, and became a member of FIFA in 1974. Even though the Bangladesh Football Federation was first founded in 1972. Bangladesh was elected as a member of the AFC Executive Committee in 1982–1986 and 1998–2002. The current Executive Committee was elected democratically, under an AFC approved constitution and direct supervision of FIFA & AFC, in April 2008.
Bangladesh's national team debuted in 1973 and has yet to qualify for the World Cup final rounds. They were dismissed in the first round of their only Asian Cup appearance to date in 1980, and the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The nation's best results came at South Asian level where it won the SAFF Championship once and were gold medalists in South Asian Games twice. Bangladesh was one of southern Asia's leading team in the 2000s. However, as is the case elsewhere on the subcontinent, top-level football in Bangladesh is played somewhere in the shadow of the country's national cricket team. This is mostly due to inadequate budget allocation and lack of technical skills adaptation. To date, football remains a popular sport in Bangladesh but cricket remains the most popular sport in the nation.

History

20th century

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 to raise international awareness and economic support for the liberation war.
Following her independence from Pakistan achieved at the end of 1971, the Bangladesh football team played its first official game on 26 July 1973, a 2–2 draw against Thailand. During the period between 26 July and 14 August 1973, the national team played 13 friendly matches against Asian teams, all hosted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, resulting in 3 draws and 10 defeats. One year later, the national team played 2 more friendlies, this time in Bangkok, and were defeated twice more.
The next official matches came in 1978 asian games in Bangkok, against Malaysia and India, finished once more as defeats. In January 1979, the qualification tournament for the 1980 AFC Asian Cup began and – surprisingly considering their previous record – Bangladesh opened their campaign with draws against Afghanistan and Qatar. A heavy 4–0 defeat against Qatar followed, but a 4–1 win over the Afghans, the team's first ever victory, saw them qualify for the tournament.
In preparation for the Asian Cup, Bangladesh played four more friendly matches, losing three of them but scoring their second win, 3–1 over Sri Lanka.
The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was held in September 1980 in Kuwait, and Bangladesh were grouped with defending champions Iran as well as North Korea, Syria and China. The Bangladeshis opened the tournament respectably with narrow defeats to the North Koreans and Syrians but were embarrassed 7–0 and 6–0 respectively by Iran and China, finishing the tournament bottom of their table with a goal difference of −15. This was the only time that Bangladesh have qualified for a major tournament.
In 1982, after a year and a half without any matches, the team played four games in Karachi, Pakistan, again suffering, 3 defeats and a draw, with a heavy 9–0 loss, this time to Iran. The next five friendlies yielded 2 victories and 3 defeats, and by the 1984, the team had only 4 victories, in 10 years.
The qualifiers for the 1984 AFC Asian Cup took place in August of that year, with Bangladesh matched with Iran and Syria from the 1980 tournament alongside Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Bangladesh lost all but one of their games, a 3–2 defeat of the Philippines to salvage a little pride after yet another mauling by Iran.
A month later, the team played friendlies against Maldives and Nepal and handed out two thrashings of their own for a change, winning both games 5–0. But Nepal answered the day after, defeating Bangladesh 4–2.
In 1985 the team made its first attempt to qualify for the World Cup and was grouped with India, Indonesia and Thailand. Two wins from six saw Bangladesh finish bottom of their group.
From April 1985 to November 1987 team played 13 games, registering 4 victories, 2 draws and 7 defeats, before failing to qualify for either the 1988 AFC Asian Cup or the 1990 FIFA World Cup, posting just one win in the eleven games they played over both tournaments.
From 1989 to 1991, the team played 8 matches, gaining 3 victories, 1 draw and 4 defeats, before failing once again to qualify for the Asian Cup, this time thanks to a 6–0 drubbing by South Korea. Two years later, the qualifying tournament for the 1994 FIFA World Cup involved 8 matches – Bangladesh's longest ever campaign, but no more successful – only a pair of victories over Sri Lanka prevented a complete whitewash which included 8–0 and 7–0 thrashings at the hands of Japan and United Arab Emirates respectively.
In 1995, Bangladesh won silver in Football at the South Asian Games, losing in the final to hosts India, but qualification for 1998 FIFA World Cup saw a return to form, with the team even losing to Chinese Taipei.
The team's fortunes in regional competitions improved – the SAFF Gold Cup in 1999, held in Goa, saw Bangladesh again reach the final and lose to India, picking up another silver medal, and at 1999 South Asian Games held in Kathmandu the team finally took the extra step and won the gold medal, the first tournament win in the team's history. However, they were unable to parlay this into a successful qualification for the 2000 Asian Cup and failed to recover from an opening 6–0 thrashing by Uzbekistan.

21st century

A historic moment occurred for the Bangladesh team on 12 January 2001, when they played their first match against a team from Europe, a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, who won 2–0. Firoz Mahmud became the first Bangladeshi player to score against a European team by scoring against Yugoslavia on 18 March 2001.
Since 2000, the team have rarely looked like qualifying for either the Asian Cup or the World Cup, but the same period has brought a tournament title being champions of SAFF Championship in 2003 as tournament host. Bangladesh as the host started by winning their opening game against Nepal with Alfaz Ahmed scoring the only goal in the 30th minute. In their next game against Maldives they won 1–0 by a late winning goal scored by Arif Khan Joy in the 90 minute. Bangladesh topped their group by winning their last game against Bhutan 3–0 with Farhad scoring two goals and Karhan scoring another one. In the semifinals they faced India who were defending champions beating Bangladesh in 1999 SAFF Cup final. Bangladesh avenged their defeat four years earlier by beating India 2–1 and thus progressing to their second consecutive SAFF Cup final. In the final Bangladesh again faced Maldives, Ronnokuzzam Kanchan gave an early lead to the host nation in the 13th minute with Bangladesh dominating the first half and in the second half a defensive mistake made Bangladesh to concede a goal as Ali Umar equalized in the 57th minute. The final remained tied at 1–1 at 90 minutes of play and extra time was played and after a thrilling 120 minutes of play a tiebreaker was needed to decide the winners. In the penalty shootout the goalkeeper Aminul saved the second penalty of Maldives and at last Mohammad Sujon held his nerves and scored the winning penalty and thus Bangladesh won their first and only SAFF title till today. Bangladesh again made it to the final of SAFF Cup in 2005 hosted by Pakistan. They started by defeating Bhutan, Nepal and drawing against India to top their group. In the semifinals they knocked out the host nation Pakistan. In the final they faced India just like in the 1999 SAFF Cup final, it was a fifty-fifty affair as the both teams were a favourite to win but India won the final and their fourth title with Bangladesh finishing as runners up and it was the last time the team played in the SAFF Cup final. Their last best result in SAFF Cup came in 2008 where they finished 3rd. Bangladesh won their second gold medal in the South Asian Games during the 2010 South Asian Games as tournament host. They surprisingly defeated Afghanistan 4–0 who beat the likes of India and Maldives.
On 29 June 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 3–0 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. They went on to play Pakistan again at Punjab Stadium, Lahore on 3 July 2011 where they drew 0–0. This allowed Bangladesh to advance to the second round to play against Lebanon. The first game was played in Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, Beirut on 23 July 2011 where Bangladesh lost 4–0. The second game was played in Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka where Bangladesh won 2–0. Since Lebanon was able to score more goals out of the two games they were into the third round eliminating Bangladesh. Bangladesh could not qualify into the semifinal of 2011 SAFF Championship as they had drawn against Pakistan but lost to Nepal and Maldives in group stage.
Bangladesh played three international friendly matches in 2012. They managed to draw against Nepal by 1–1. They started their South-east Asian tour with a heavy 5–0 defeat to Thailand but drawn against Malaysia by 1–1.

Lodewijk de Kruif

Bangladesh failed to qualify into the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup as they lost to Palestine by 0–1 despite their wins against the host Nepal and Northern Mariana Islands in 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualification stage held in March 2013. Bangladesh could not qualify into the semifinal of 2013 SAFF Championship as they lost to Nepal and Pakistan in group matches. Although they had a consolation draw against tournament runner-up India in group stage, it was the second consecutive SAFF Championship where they failed to qualify into knockout stage.
On 5 March 2014 Bangladesh tied a thrilling 2–2 friendly against India at Fatorda Stadium, Goa, India.
In the 2015 Bangabandhu Cup, Bangladesh became the runners-up of the tournament as they lost against Malaysia U-23 by 2–3 in the final match. In the group stage, Bangladesh lost in the very first match against Malaysia U-23 but won against Sri Lanka which led them to qualify in the semi final round where they beat Thailand U-23s by 1–0.
On 30 May and 2 June Bangladesh played several friendlies as preparation of the upcoming FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Singapore and Afghanistan, losing the first match by 1–2 and drawing the second one by 1–1. On 29 August, Bangladesh played another friendly against Malaysia at the Shah Alam Stadium and it concluded with a goalless draw.
Bangladesh played their first four matches of the FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Australia and Jordan losing all of the matches apart from the home game against Tajikistan where they drew 1–1.

Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno

Bangladesh ended their FIFA 2018 World Cup Qualifying campaign on a disappointing note as they suffered a huge 8–0 defeat to Jordan in their last and final Group B match at the Amman National Stadium on 24 March 2016. With seven defeats and a solitary draw against Tajikistan, Bangladesh conceded 32 goals and scored only twice, once apiece against Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Lodewijk de Kruif reappointment

In May 2016 de Kruif returned to take charge of the national team for a third time in a failed attempt in the AFC Asia Cup 2019 qualification playoff round 1 as they lost both home and away matches to Tajikistan. It was reported that he favored the older players from his previous run with the team rather giving opportunities to younger players.

Tom Saintfiet

The BFF appointed Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet on 29 June 2016, initially on a short term contract to guide the national team to the AFC Asia Cup 2019 qualification playoff round 2 matches against Bhutan.
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. The result in the Asian Cup qualifying play-off means Bangladesh will not be a part of any AFC and FIFA tournaments for the next two to three years until the launching of the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Coach Saintfiet called up the veteran striking pair of Jahid Hasan Ameli and Enamul Haque for the match, but to no avail.
"It was very bad for Bangladesh football. I think Bhutan showed that despite being a small nation, with good fundamentals and hard work, you can still reach somewhere. I think some well-paid Bangladesh players should start thinking if they are ready to play at this level. I would like to apologize to Bangladesh Football Federation and all the football loving people," said the frustrated coach.

Andrew Ord

Following a six-month period with no National Team coach Andrew Ord was appointed on 18 May 2017. His reputation in Asia for promoting young players and giving them an opportunity was part of a long term strategy from the Federation to rebuild the National Team. Ord oversaw an upswing in results at AFC youth tournaments and then fast tracked these young players into the Senior side. On 27 March 2018 they travelled to Laos and fielded five players who had played in the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship qualification three months previously. The 2-2 draw finally put the Bhutan debacle into the past and was the start of new dawn for Bangladesh Football with a vibrant young team.

Jamie Day: resurgence

Bangladesh advanced to the second round of 2022 World Cup qualifying when they defeated Laos 1–0 on aggregate.
In the qualification, Bangladesh was grouped together with neighbor India, alongside Asian powerhouse Qatar and two other difficult rivals, Afghanistan and Oman. Bangladesh did manage a surprise away draw to giant India 1–1, only to concede a goal near dying minutes. Bangladesh then lost to the remaining, but their losses were not as heavy as expected, even caused hardship to Qatar and Oman.

Team image

Colours

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 colours of Bangladesh, originating from the national flag of Bangladesh. The red represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh. The current Bangladesh away jersey is completely diametric to the regular one.

Home stadium

Bangladesh plays majority of their home matches at Bangabandhu National Stadium, Dhaka, where they won the SAFF Championship in 2003 and 2010 South Asian Games football gold medal. Occasionally home matches are played at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong, Sylhet District Stadium in Sylhet, Rajshahi District Stadium in Rajshahi and Shamsul Huda Stadium in Jessore.

Media coverage

Bangladesh's home and away qualifiers and friendlies both home and away are broadcast live on Bangladesh Television & Bangla TV

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the 2020 Bangabandhu Cup.
Caps and goals updated as of 23 January 2020 after the match against.
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Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Bangladesh squad within the last twelve months.

Coaching staff

PositionName
Head Coach Jamie Day
Assistant Coach Stuart Watkiss
Assistant Coach Masud Parvej Kaisar
Goalkeeper Coach Bobby Mimms
Physiotherapist Simon Maltby
Manager Satyajit Das Rupu
Academy Coach Andy Turner
Youth Coach Rob Ryles
BFF Technical DirectorPaul Smalley

Results and fixtures

The following matches were played or are scheduled to be played by the national team in the current or upcoming matches.
DateCompetitionVenueLocationOpponentResultScorer for Bangladesh
9 March 2019International friendlyOlympic StadiumPhnom Penh, Cambodia1–0Robiul
29 September 2019International friendlyBangabandhu National StadiumDhaka, Bangladesh4–1Jibon
Biplu
Robiul
3 October 2019International friendlyBangabandhu National StadiumDhaka, Bangladesh2–0Yeasin
15 January 20202020 Bangabandhu CupBangabandhu National StadiumDhaka, Bangladesh0–2
19 January 20202020 Bangabandhu CupBangabandhu National StadiumDhaka, Bangladesh3–0Motin
Ibrahim
23 January 20202020 Bangabandhu CupBangabandhu National StadiumDhaka, Bangladesh0–3

2022 FIFA World Cup & 2023 AFC Asian Cup Joint Qualification

Coaches

CoachFromToPWDLGSGA%W
Mark HarrisonApril 2000May 2000
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Hasanuzzaman BabluJuly 2000August 2000
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György KottánNovember 2000January 2003
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Golam Sarwar Tipu22 November 2003December 2003
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Andres Cruciani3 August 200510 April 2006
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Hasanuzzaman BabluFebruary 2006November 2006
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Syed Nayeemuddin1 August 200731 December 2007
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Abu Yousuf5 March 200818 June 2008
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Shafiqul Islam Manik18 August 200813 November 2008
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Dido1 January 20099 November 2009
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Shahidur Rahman Shantoo9 November 200911 December 2009
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Saiful Bari Titu16 February 201020 February 2010
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Robert Rubčić3 September 20102 June 2011
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Nikola Ilievski24 June 201122 December 2011
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Saiful Bari Titu2 September 201220 November 2012
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Lodewijk de Kruif29 January 201314 October 2014
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Saiful Bari Titu18 October 201427 October 2014
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Lodewijk de Kruif24 January 20158 September 2015
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Fabio Lopez11 September 201524 November 2015
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Maruful Haque25 November 201518 January 2016
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Gonzalo Sanchez Moreno23 February 201624 March 2016
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Lodewijk de Kruif7 May 20167 June 2016
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Tom Saintfiet26 June 201610 October 2016
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Andrew Ord18 May 20174 April 2018
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Jamie Day17 May 2018
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Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record

Bangladesh took part in every FIFA World Cup qualifier although never made it past the first round. The best they did was clinch wins in some of them.

AFC Asian Cup record

AFC Challenge Cup qualification record:

SAFF Championship

Asian Games

The team's head-to-head records against all 48 nations whom they have played to date, including friendly internationals: Two of these teams no longer exist, so Bangladesh have played against 47 of the current 209 FIFA members: 43 AFC, 3 CAF, 0 CONCACAF, 0 CONMEBOL, 0 OFC and 1 UEFA members as of 23 January 2020.
AgainstRegion%Win
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Total48 nations
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Honours

Bangladesh national football team results