Bangladesh

Origins (1895–1972)

In 1895, the Dacca Sporting Association, or the DSA, was formed in a small tin house at Paltan Maidan in Dhaka. Eventually, during the early 1930s, numerous tournaments were being held in East Bengal, and it was observed that Bengalis there were improving in football. In those days, Islington Corinthians from England toured all around the world and introduced their football to every country they visited. On 21 November 1937, the team visited Dhaka, where they took on the DSA XI. The Bengalis of Dhaka handed Corinthians their first ever defeat, recording a 1–0 victory during their maiden encounter. The majority of the DSA XI players were students of Dhaka University. Thousands of people were overjoyed to see the English lose on the field that day. While leaving, the opposition admitted to their defeat by stating, "I heard a lot about the Bengal tiger! This time I saw it!"

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 and helped fund the provisional Bangladesh government, by handing over all the prize money they earned from playing exhibition games during their tour. After gaining independence from Pakistan on 26 March 1971, a de facto national team called Dhaka XI was active the following year. The team won a highly anticipated friendly against Mohun Bagan on home soil and also finished runners-up at India's Bordoloi Trophy.

Emergence (1973–1984)

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) was founded on 15 July 1972 by Md.Yousuf Ali, the country's former Minister of Education and Cultural Affairs. BFF became affiliated with AFC in 1973 and FIFA in 1976. Former Dhaka XI head coach Sheikh Shaheb Ali was put incharge of the first national team and Zakaria Pintoo who lead the Shadhin Bangla Team before liberation, was made its captain. In July 1973, Malaysia invited Bangladesh to take part in the Merdeka Cup, along with Pintoo the first national team consisted of: Shahidur Rahman Shantoo, Abdul Motaleb, Monwar Hossain Nannu, Dilip Barua, Nazir Ahmed, Firoj Kabir, Farukuzzaman, Abdul Hakim, Sharifuzzaman, Md.Kaikobad, Enayetur Rahman, Kazi Salahuddin, Pratap Shankar Hazra, Sheikh Ashraf Ali, Sunil Krishna and Nowsher.

On 26 July 1973, the Bangladesh football team played its first official game, a 2–2 draw against Thailand in the Merdeka Cup. Enayetur Rahman scored the country's first ever international goal and the second goal was scored by fellow striker Kazi Salahuddin. After the stalemate, the game went to penalties, where Bangladesh lost 0–1. On 13 August 1973, after concluding their journey in Malaysia the team played a friendly in Singapore, and earned their first ever win by defeating the hosts 1–0, thanks to a goal from Nowsher. In August 1975, Bangladesh were again invited to partake in the Merdeka Cup held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. During their underwhelming tournament, the players were informed about the Assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and decided to abandon the tournament to return home amidst the political unrest. However, fearing a FIFA ban the team was obliged to play their game with South Korea, making a symbolic protest by keeping the Bangladesh flag at half-mast and wearing a black badge, as they lost 0–4.

Aside from competing in the 1976 King's Cup, Bangladesh remained inactive until 1978, when Werner Bickelhaupt was appointed as the country's first foreign coach. The team experienced internal conflict going into the 1978 Asian games in Bangkok, as the captaincy was stripped off the senior most player Monwar Hossain Nannu of Abahani and handed over to Shahidur Rahman Shantoo from Mohammedan SC, seven players from Abahani including Nannu quit the team in protest. The much depleted Bangladesh team struggled in the tournament losing to both Malaysia and India. Following this incident, the federation attempted to pick captains outside the two Dhaka giants for the next few years. In March 1979, the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers began on home soil and surprisingly considering that this was their first time taking part in a qualifying tournament, Bangladesh guided by local trainer Anwar Hossain, opened their campaign with draws against Afghanistan and Qatar. The team then went on to claim only their second ever victory by defeating the Afghans 3–2, which was eventually enough for them to qualify for the main event.

The 1980 AFC Asian Cup was held in September in Kuwait, and Bangladesh were grouped with defending champions Iran as well as North Korea, Syria and China. The team now coached by Abdur Rahim, opened the tournament respectably with a narrow 3–2 defeat against North Korea. Their goals came from Kazi Salahuddin and Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu. They also held on well against Syria, losing 0–1. However, the next couple of games saw Bangladesh being embarrassed 7–0 and 6–0 respectively, by Iran and China, finishing the tournament bottom of their table. Bangladesh continued their continental exploits, as a goal from Badal Roy against Malaysia at the 1982 Asian Games, gave the team their first ever win in Asia's biggest stage at the time. Despite all their early success, the team would see a slump in form, failing to qualify for the 1984 AFC Asian Cup and also endured a painful defeat to Nepal in the 1984 South Asian Games final.

Rise and Fall (1985–2002)

In 1985, Bangladesh took part in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, and were grouped along with India, Indonesia and Thailand. The country's first ever win at the qualifiers came against Indonesia. The game was held at the Bangladesh Army Stadium, and the under-pressure home team had overturned a single goal deficit through Kaiser Hamid and Ashrafuddin Ahmed Chunnu. They followed up the Indonesia result by edging past Thailand 1–0 in the next game. Nonetheless, the team finished bottom of the group, behind Thailand on goal difference. In the wake of their first World Cup qualifying campaign, Bangladesh took part in the 1985 South Asian Games as one of the favorites. The team cruised through the group-stages, claiming their biggest ever win in an 8–0 thrashing of Maldives along the way, but luck was not on their side, losing to India on penalties in the final. During the 1990 World Cup qualifiers, the team only registered a single victory, which came in a 3–1 thrashing of Thailand. Despite the solitary victory, Bangladesh fought toe-to-toe with Asian giants Iran and China during both legs.

Iranian legend Nasser Hejazi took charge of Bangladesh at the 1989 South Asian Games, and dropped experienced players (Sheikh Aslam, Wasim Iqbal and Md Mohsin) from the squad. After an error-prone team lost the final to Pakistan, the Mohammedan coach Hejazi was accused of having a bias against selecting players from rival club, Abahani. In 1995, following a series of managerial changes, Otto Pfister was appointed as coach. On 4 November 1995, with Pfister handing the team's captaincy to Monem Munna, Bangladesh won the 4-nation Tiger Trophy in Myanmar, which was the nation's very first major trophy. The year 1996 saw Bangladesh being ranked 110 by FIFA, however, they failed to add to their success, finishing runner-up at the 1995 South Asian Games and 1999 SAFF Gold Cup. It was at the 1999 South Asian Games where the Bangladesh team coached by Samir Shaker ended their 19-year wait for a gold medal, defeating hosts Nepal in the final.

On 12 January 2001, a historic moment occurred for the Bangladesh team, as they played their first match against a European nation, when they took on Bosnia & Herzegovina during the Sahara Cup and lost 2–0. On 18 March 2001, Firoj Mahmud Titu became the first Bangladeshi player to score against European opposition, as Bangladesh suffered a 4–1 defeat at the hands of FR Yugoslavia during the same competition. The team proceeded to grow more and more despondent, suffering elimination from the first Round of 2002 World Cup qualifiers with only 1 win from 4 games. On 11 January 2002, FIFA imposed a ban on Bangladesh, due to the government violating the FIFA and AFC law that only recognizes a democratically elected committee to run a country's football federation. Nonetheless, the ban was short lived, after the government reinstated the elected committee of Bangladesh Football Federation, FIFA lifted the ban, on 11 February.

SAFF Gold Cup triumph (2003)

After failing to produce satisfactory results in the previous two years, coach György Kottán remained incharge of Bangladesh during the 2003 SAFF Championship which took place in Dhaka, between 10 January 2003 and 20 January 2003. Hosts Bangladesh started off the tournament by winning their opening game against Nepal (1–0), with Alfaz Ahmed scoring the only goal, 30 minutes into the match. In the following game, the team again won by a solitary goal, thanks to a late strike from Arif Khan Joy against Maldives. Bangladesh topped their group after winning the last game 3–0 against Bhutan, with goals coming from Farhad and Kanchan. In the semifinals they faced India, who were the defending champions after defeating Bangladesh in the final in 1999. Bangladesh avenged their defeat from four years earlier by overcoming India 2–1, owing to a Golden goal by Motiur Munna and thus progressing to their second consecutive SAFF Championship final. However, before the final the Bangladesh team dealt a huge blow, as their captain Rajani Kanta Barman who played in every game during the tournament until then, picked up a suspension, denying him a chance to play in the next match. In the final Bangladesh again faced Maldives, Hassan Al-Mamun replaced Rajani in defense and took up the captain's armband before the game. Rokonuzzaman Kanchan gave the hosts the early lead and Bangladesh spent the rest of the first half dominating possession. During the second half a defensive blunder by Bangladesh lead to Ali Umar scoring the equalizer. The game remained tied at 1–1 after 90 minutes and even after another 30 minutes of extra time the two sides could not be separated. In the penalty shootout, goalkeeper Aminul Haque saved the second penalty from Maldives and at last Mohammed Sujan held his nerves and scored the winning penalty, as Bangladesh secured their first SAFF Championship in front of 46,000 supporters present at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.

Inconsistency (2003–2010)

The 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, began from March 2003. It was another devastating qualifying campaign for Bangladesh, a defeat at the hands of Laos and a draw against Hong Kong, concluded their Asian Cup qualification hopes. The team did show signs of improvement by reaching the final of the 2005 Saff Championship, only to be defeated by India in the final again. From December 2005, Bangladesh began their 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign, winning only a single game in the process, before once again failing to reach the main phase of the competition. The 2008 SAFF Championship also ended in huge disappointment, as Bangladesh were knocked out during the group-stages, even after the BFF launched the country's first professional league, the Bangladesh Premier League, the previous year. Their underwhelming SAFF campaign resulted in the dismissal of coach of Abu Yusuf. He was replaced by another former national team player, Shafiqul Islam Manik, who only lasted at the job for three months.

On 24 January 2009, Bangladesh appointed Brazilian coach Dido. Under his guidance the team saw an upturn in results, winning two of the three 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers and advanced into the main tournament. However, he was sacked within 11 months as he refused to select established national team players. During his last interview before leaving Bangladesh, Dido criticized the country's footballing structure and stated that it was corrupt. This again raised questions about BFF president Kazi Salahuddin's management of the country's football. The 2009 SAFF Championship saw Bangladesh once again hosting the tournament. Former national team keeper Shahidur Rahman Shantoo was appointed as the interim coach just a few days before the tournament. His time at the job was also short lived, as the hosts were knocked out in the semi-final by eventual champions India. The deterioration in results over the following decade and more saw a massive decline in popularity of the country's football among fans, in both domestic and international stage.

Decline (2011–present)

On 29 June 2011, after a goalless away leg, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 3–0 on aggregate in Dhaka during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers–first round. The game took place only four days after Nikola Ilievski was appointed as the team's head coach. This allowed Bangladesh to advance to the second round to face Lebanon. The first game was played in Beirut on 23 July 2011, where the hosts won 4–0. The return game in Dhaka saw Bangladesh being eliminated, even though they managed to salvage a 2–0 victory against the Middle Eastern giants. However, the dearth of quality players was evident as the nation failed to win a single game during the entirety of the 2011 SAFF Championship.

In January 2013, Lodewijk de Kruif took charge of the team, and under his leadership, they even failed to advance from the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers, a tournament held to assist lower-ranked teams. Bangladesh played their first four games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Australia and Jordan, losing all of the matches apart from their home game against Tajikistan, where they drew 1–1. These results led to De Kruif being sacked in September 2015. In March 2016, Bangladesh ended their 2018 World Cup Qualifying run with an 8–0 defeat at the hands of a Jordan team managed by Harry Redknapp.

On 29 June 2016, the BFF appointed Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, initially on a short-term contract, to guide the national team during the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualification playoff round 2 matches against Bhutan. Saintfiet called up the veteran striking pair of Jahid Hasan Ameli and Enamul Haque for the encounter, but to no avail. 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 results meant Bangladesh would not be a part of any AFC and FIFA tournaments for the following two years, until the launching of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers. By February 2018, Bangladesh had plummeted to 197 in the FIFA World Rankings, marking the country's lowest ranking to date.

In May 2018, Jamie Day took charge of the team. Although the team disappointed during the 2018 SAFF Championship, Bangladesh advanced to the 2022 World Cup qualifiers – AFC second round by defeating Laos 1–0 on aggregate. They were grouped together with neighbors India and Afghanistan, alongside Asian powerhouses Qatar and Oman. The team managed to earn well-deserved draws against India and Afghanistan, and although they suffered some heavy defeats in the following games, Bangladesh reached the third round of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers as one of the three best fifth-positioned teams. In September 2021, after five consecutive defeats, Day was put on a two-month leave just before the 2021 SAFF Championship got underway. However, interim coach Óscar Bruzón was not able to change the country's fate, as Bangladesh yet again underwhelmed at the tournament.

On 8 January 2022, the BFF appointed Javier Cabrera as the permanent head coach of Bangladesh on an 11-month contract. Under Cabrera Bangladesh crashed out of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round, failing to secure a single victory.