Free of FIFA ban, Abahani into a rough rebuild
6 HOUR(s)
The Sky Blues are banking on last season's squad despite the club management's instruction to build a youthful squad that can be retained for the next few seasons.
6 HOUR(s)
Eligibility row in female category hits Bangladesh athletics
10 August 2026
The cases are believed to be the first of their kind in Bangladesh athletics, bringing a global debate over female-category eligibility rules into the country's sporting landscape.
10 August 2026
BFL needs a structural reset
30 July 2026
If Bangladesh is serious about competing beyond South Asia, the transformation must begin at home.
30 July 2026
Idle boots, ticking clock as SAFF nears
23 July 2026
For the past few weeks, the people of Bangladesh have been captivated by one thing -- the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
23 July 2026
Local experts vouch for VAR
8 July 2026
While debates over individual calls are likely to continue, experts believe VAR has already become an important part of modern football despite its ongoing limitations.
8 July 2026
Beyond Brazil setback: A child’s first lesson in football, and life
7 July 2026
A World Cup is often a child’s very first introduction to the concept of a setback, wrapped in the safe environment of sport.
7 July 2026
An unrealised dream and one lingering question
26 June 2026
Growing up in the mid-1980s, football in Bangladesh was never merely a sport. It was emotion, identity, and everyday life stitched into dusty neighbourhood fields and crowded tea stalls.
26 June 2026
‘Argentina fans trolled us’, says Brazil fan and Bangladesh keeper Zico
26 June 2026
Being an avid Brazil fan, Bangladesh national team goalkeeper Anisur Rahman Zico has been enjoying every match of the Selecao, along with the other key FIFA World Cup fixtures. Zico recently spoke to The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman about Brazil's progress at the World Cup, the evolving role of goalkeepers, and his own professional future. Below are excerpts:
26 June 2026
A once-rich well now drying up
A group of brilliant young footballers put Bangladesh prominently on the map of age-level women’s football, especially in South Asia, by clinching the first-ever AFC U-14 Girls’ Regional Championship in December 2015.
8 October 2020
Newcomers set sights on district, lower leagues
The newly elected Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) committee may not reflect the expectations of the general football fans, but the much talked-about polls produced nine new faces who are all set to work along long-serving BFF organisers, including four-time President Kazi Salahuddin for the next four years.
5 October 2020
A peaceful AGM that belied the discontent underneath
The annual general meeting is a forum where delegates capitalise on the opportunity to reflect on the obstacles and achievements of the past year, and to voice their opinions on decisions that will affect the direction of the sport.
3 October 2020
Sport set to stir to life by year’s end
As the country is gradually stirring back to life amid the threat of the coronavirus, the country’s sports fraternity too seems to be preparing to wake up.
27 September 2020
Life goes on
Social distancing and Covid-19 transmission are evidently not high on the list of concerns. For these workers, at an iron foundry in Shyampur, the most pressing issue in life is earning the basic living that would allow them to put food on the table back home.
25 September 2020
Nobody around to hear players’ dismay
Lack of professionalism in both the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) and the clubs, combined with the dysfunction in the Football Players’ Welfare Association (FPWA) has seemingly paved the way to the unpleasant decision of big pay cuts of footballers in the upcoming season, expected to start in December.
24 September 2020
‘Will give myself 7.5 out of 10’
The Daily Star (DS): You are contesting for the president’s post of Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) for a fourth successive term. What has prompted you to run again?
5 September 2020
‘Our football is orphaned’
“Football is now a platform for fake organisers to draw cheap publicity,” Manzoor Hossain Malu lamented.
2 September 2020
BFF’s admin expenses keep rising
Despite little engagement at national and international stage last year and lower division competitions and youth development remaining irregular, the Bangladesh Football Federation’s administrative expenditure increased 30 percent in the last fiscal.
25 August 2020
Dissolution the only solution to infighting
Asked why their relationship had suddenly deteriorated after running the federation in tandem for nearly six years, Nazimuddin and Intekhabul blamed each other.
20 August 2020
Focus shifts to domestic football
Football in the country was set to emerge from the four-and-a-half-month coronavirus-induced slumber last week as national players joined the training camp for the Joint Qualifiers for World Cup and Asian Cup, but FIFA and AFC’s decision on Wednesday to postpone the October-November window has plunged the sport into uncertainty once more.
13 August 2020
Virus fears echoed in booters’ reports
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a persistent fear has been that of false negatives -- cases of those infected with the transmissible virus testing negative and being allowed to carry on with their regular lives, risking further infection.
7 August 2020
Limited spectators at Afghanistan game?
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will allow its member associations to hold the upcoming Joint Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup in the presence of full spectators, limited spectators or without spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic.
4 August 2020
Uncertainty to remain even after pandemic
After the Bangladesh Hockey Federation (BHF) elections in April 2019, there were high hopes that the new leadership would get the Premier Hockey League (PHL) back on track but those fond hopes have proved to be unfounded so far, and the coronavirus pandemic has plunged the league into further uncertainty.
28 July 2020
Four newcomers, four different stories
Four new players have secured places in the preliminary squad of the Bangladesh national football team ahead of the Joint Qualifiers of Qatar World Cup and China Asian Cup, and their journeys to drawing the attention of head coach Jamie Day tell varied stories of ascension to the coveted level.
27 July 2020
Day seeks a glimpse into booters’ psyche
Footballers have been confined to their respective homes for four months since the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March and players, especially those in the national team, have been adhering strictly to the training schedule set by national team coach Jamie Day following the announcement of the resumption of joint qualifiers for 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup.
22 July 2020
More clubs than ever eye slots in AFC Cup amid new reality
While the ongoing 2020 AFC Cup is yet to resume after being suspended in March in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the process of participating in the 2021 edition has already started with the Bangladesh Football Federation asking interest clubs of the Bangladesh Premier League to submit their documents by August 5.
19 July 2020
Lifting the new normal’s burden
While athletes from the majority of disciplines are eagerly waiting for the situation to improve so they can get back to formal training, weightlifters across the country are paving the way as they returned to full-fledged training despite the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
14 July 2020
Medical guidelines ready for national booters
The resumption of the national football team’s activities is gradually becoming a reality as the medical committee of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) yesterday completed their health guidelines in light of FIFA guidelines to resume football activities ahead of October’s World Cup Qualifiers.
9 July 2020
Sprinter takes up sickle with eyes on the track
Promising sprinter Al Naim Sheikh has turned into a day labourer, working on agricultural fields in Khulna as his bread and butter has been snatched away by the coronavirus pandemic.
6 July 2020