Bangladesh national football team

Bangladesh

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	Bengal Tigers
Association	Bangladesh Football Federation
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	SAFF (South Asia)
Head coach	Saiful Bari Titu
Home stadium	Bangabandhu National Stadium
FIFA code	BAN
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	171
Highest	110
Lowest	178 (July 2008)
First international
Bangladesh 2–2 Thailand (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 26 July 1973)
Biggest win
Bangladesh 8–0 Maldives (Dhaka, Bangladesh; 23 December 1985)
Biggest defeat
South Korea 9–0 Bangladesh (Incheon, South Korea; 16 September 1979) Iran 9–0 Bangladesh (Karachi, Pakistan; 25 February 1982)
Asian Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 1980)
Best result	Round 1; 1980

The Bangladesh national football team (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ফুটবল দল) is the national team of Bangladesh controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation. It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation and has yet to qualify for the World Cup finals. They were dismissed in the first round of their only Asian Cup appearance to date in 1980, and have been South Asian champions once, defeating the Maldives in the final via penalties, as hosts in 2003. As is the case elsewhere on the subcontinent, top-level football in Bangladesh is played somewhere in the shadow of the country's test cricket team.

Fixtures and results

Date	Competition	Venue	Location	Opponent	Result	Scorers for Bangladesh
December 2, 2011	SAFF 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	New Delhi	Pakistan	0–0
December 4, 2011	SAFF 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	New Delhi	Nepal	0–1
December 6, 2011	SAFF 2011	Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium	New Delhi	Maldives	1–3	Shahed 29'
September 20, 2012	Friendly	Dasarath Rangasala Stadium	Kathmandu	Nepal	1-1	Zahid 43'
November 18, 2012	Friendly	Rajamangala Stadium	Bangkok	Thailand

History

The 1970s

Following her independence from Pakistan achieved at the end of 1971, the Bangladesh football team played its first official game on July 26, 1973 against Thailand. The match finished 2-2 to Bangladesh. During the period between July 26 and August 14, 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, 2 friendly games against Malaysia and India, also in Bangkok, 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 (notably a 9–0 thrashing by South Korea) but scoring their second win, 3–1 over Sri Lanka.

The 1980s

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 (3–2) and Syrians (1–0) 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,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 (a 3–1 defeat of Thailand in World Cup qualifying).

The 1990s

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 South Asia Gold Cup in 1999, held in Goa, saw Bangladesh again reach the final and lose to India, picking up another silver medal, and at that year's South Asian Games held in Kathmandu the team finally took the extra step and won the tournament, 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.

The 2000s

A historic moment occurred for the Bangladesh team on 12 January 2001, when they played their first match against a team from outside Asia, a friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina, who won 2–0.

Since 2000, the team have rarely looked like qualifying for either the Asian Cup or the World Cup (with successive first-round eliminations by Tajikistan in 2006 and 2010, but the same period has brought 2 tournament golds, one for South Asia Gold Cup in 2003, and the other at 2010 South Asian Games – in both cases as tournament hosts.

2011

On 29 June 2011 at Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 3-0 in the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. They would go on to play Pakistan again at Punjab Stadium, Lahore on 3 July 2011 where they drew 0-0. This allowed the Bangladesh team to move on 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 advanced to the third round eliminating Bangladesh.

Competition records

FIFA World Cup record

Bangladesh Football Team is one of the weakest football teams in Asia. 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.

• 1930 to 1982 – Did not enter; was part of British Empire until 1947 and then part of Pakistan between 1947–1971
• 1986 to 2014 – Did not qualify

AFC Asian Cup record

• 1956 to 1976 – Did not enter
• 1980 – Round 1
• 1984 to 1992 – Did not qualify
• 1996 – withdrew
• 2000 to 2011 – Did not qualify

AFC Challenge Cup record

AFC Challenge Cup
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
2006	Quarter Final	4	2	1	1	7	8
2008	Qualification Stage (Did not qualify)	2	0	1	1	1	2
2010	Group Stage*	6	3	0	3	8	8
2012	Qualification Stage (Did not qualify)	3	1	0	2	2	5
Total	Best:Quarter Final	15	6	2	7	18	23

• Record includes Qualification Group Stage matches

SAFF Championship

SAFF Championship
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1993	Did Not Enter	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995	Semi Final	3	1	1	1	2	1
1997	Group Stage	2	0	1	1	1	4
1999	Runners Up	4	2	1	1	6	3
2003	Winners	5	4	1	0	8	2
2005	Runners Up	5	3	1	1	7	3
& 2008	Group Stage	3	0	2	1	3	4
2009	Semi Final	4	2	1	1	6	3
2011	Group Stage	3	0	1	2	1	4
Total	Best: Winners	29	12	9	8	34	24

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South Asian Games

South Asian Games
Games	Medal
1984 Kathmandu	Silver
1985 Dhaka	Silver
1989 Islamabad	Silver
1991 Colombo	Bronze
1995 Madras	Silver
1999 Kathmandu	Gold
2010 Dhaka	Gold

Coaches

• Shaheb Ali
• Abdur Rahim (1975)
• Warner Beckenhoft (1978–1981)
• Gard Smith (1982)
• Abdur Rahim (1985)
• Kazi Salahuddin (1985)
• Golam Sarwar Tipu (1986)
• Kazi Salahuddin (1988)
• Nasser Hejazi (1989)
• Hamzah Hussain Wahid (1992)

• Kazi Salahuddin (1993)
• Oldrich Svab (1993)
• Man Yang Kang (1994)
• Otto Pfister (1994–1997)
• Samir Shakir (1998–1999)
• Mark Harrison (Apr 2000 – Oct 2000)
• George Kottan (2000–2003)
• Andres Cruciani (Aug 2005–2007)
• Syed Nayeemuddin (Jul 2007 - Nov 2007)
• Abu Yusuf Mohammad (Mar 2008 – Jun 2008)

• Shafiqul Islam Manik (Aug 2008 – Nov 2008)
• Dido (Jan 2009 – Nov 2009)
• Shahidur Rahman Shantoo (Nov 2009 – Dec 2009)^
• Zoran Đorđević (Jan 2010 – Feb 2010)
• Saiful Bari Titu (Feb 2010)
• Robert Rubčić (Sept 2010 – Jun 2011)
• Gjore Jovanovski (Jun 2011)
• Nikola Ilievski (Jun 2011 – Dec 2011)
• Saiful Bari Titu (Sep 2012 – )^

^Interim

References

• Djordjevic new Bangladesh coach
• FIFA.com – Bengal Tigers roar again

External links

• Bangladesh Football Federation official website
• Bangladesh at FIFA.com