Atique Anam

Qatar has never seen anything like it before and it has been waiting to see it -- the FIFA World Cup -- in flesh for more than a decade. And the tiny oil-rich nation has done its best, despite the criticism, to put on its best face to the world for this global event.

Every four years as the FIFA World Cup comes around, people in Bangladesh and across the entire world cross their fingers for a clash between two of the most loved and decorated countries in world football -- Brazil and Argentina.

Having been a bit lukewarm to the FIFA World Cup thus far for not having my favourite team at this edition in Qatar, I was kind of sucked into the excitement of it all a fair two days after the Greatest Show on Earth began. It was the Argentina versus Saudi Arabia match on Tuesday which once again reminded me of football’s power to get people imbued despite the daily grind.

What started as an experimental idea less than two decades ago against the backdrop of heavy resistance from sections of a conservative society helped Bangladesh lift the biggest prize in South Asian football since 2003 as Bangladesh clinched the title of the SAFF Women’s Championship,

There are around 50-odd sporting federations in Bangladesh, some of which have already existed for over five decades. Apart from cricket, football, hockey, shooting and chess, most of the federations suffer from a lack of spotlight due to a lack of activities and interest from sponsors. 

Basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world. Some of the biggest names and highest earners in the sporting world are basketball players. It is an Olympic sport, represented in two disciplines for both men and women.

When former national team striker Saifur Rahman Moni resigned from the job of a Bangladesh Championship League (BCL) outfit two weeks ago, it was probably the first time in the country that a professional football coach had taken such a step in protest of what he believes was match-fixing by its officials and players.

Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera declined to blame his players, instead claimed that the team has made good progress and are adopting to his ideas, following a goalless draw against Mongolia in a FIFA friendly at the Sylhet District Stadium yesterday.

As Bangladesh take on Mongolia in a FIFA friendly match at the Sylhet District Stadium today, there will be a lot of focus on whether the team can bounce back from a 2-0 defeat against Maldives last week.

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan said he is looking forward to playing in front of a full-house crowd at the Sylhet District Stadium and earn a victory against Mongolia on Tuesday.

Bangladesh holds a special place in the heart of Mongolian national football team captain Tsend-Ayuush Khurelbaatar, for It was against the men in red and green that the landlocked East Asian nation had earned their first point in international football.

The Shaheed Noor Hossain Volleyball Stadium in Paltan recently staged the Bangabandhu Cup International Kabaddi Tournament for the second time.

Incident 1: Police vs Bashundhara Kings, Independence Cup semifinal, BSSMKS, Dec 14, 2021.

The reason for this premonition is simple: there will be no shooting event in Birmingham, the first time the discipline has been dropped from the roster of the multisport event for the Commonwealth of Nations.

The Bashundhara Kings Arena is set to become the first privately-owned football ground to host a match of the Bangladesh Premier League, the top-tier professional football of the country.

As Bangladesh national football team braces for a new beginning under new coach Javier Cabrera with optimism that things will finally take a positive turn after a year of turmoil, experimentation and failure, time is probably right to remind everyone that things can only change as much as they want it to change.

The Federation Cup descended into farce on Friday after the defending champions Bashundhara Kings declined to participate, explaining their position to the game’s local governing body 24 hours before the start of the tournament.

Bangladesh’s premier golfer Siddikur Rahman has returned to the country from his five-month stay in the USA with the realisation that playing in the top-level golf competitions requires top level training.

Unprofessional and desperate is how football pundits are reacting to Bangladesh Football Federation’s (BFF) decision to replace national team’s head coach Jamie Day with Bashundhara Kings coach Oscar Bruzon for two months.

As Bangladesh woke up to the news that they were allowed qualification for the final round of the Asian Cup qualifiers, despite not meeting the previously-thought criteria following a fifth-place finish in Group E on the previous night, the pertinent question that surfaced was what they can do with this luck? Can they turn it into good fortune by stretching their ability to its limit or just accept it as a generous gift from football’s Asian governing body (AFC) and be pleased with it?