Hamza one step away from playing for Bangladesh

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has sought final approval from FIFA to field England-born footballer Hamza Chowdhury as a Bangladesh player after getting a No-Objection Certificate from the England Football Association last week.

"We have already applied to FIFA for the final approval for Hamza Chowdhury and our application is supposed to be placed before the players' status committee, subject to the availability of all related documents," BFF general secretary Emran Hossain told reporters today.

The BFF spokesman said that a specific time-frame to acquire the FIFA approval could not be ascertained, however, they expect Hamza to be available to play for Bangladesh in the November FIFA window.

"We had previously sought NOC from England FA for other England-born Bangladeshi players during the regime of Jamie Day and it is the same process for Hamza, who showed his interested in playing for Bangladesh," Emran said, adding that they sought the NOC to England FA in the last week of August.