Anisur Rahman

Jahid first-ever goal in top flight became a memorable one.

Among 168 teams, Firoz Kamal Football Academy of Brahmanbaria emerged champions in the recently-introduced and FIFA-financed BFF Academy Cup. Despite being the chairman of the academy, advocate Mosarrof Hossain acted as the manager of the team during the tournament. The lawyer talked to The Daily Star’s Anisur Rahman to share the academy’s experience, limitations, prospects and other issues.

Poor technique and insufficient knowledge of footballers have often been blamed for poor results of the national team over the years. At times, even foreign coaches seemed bothered to have been working with such footballers.

Mohammedan now await either Abahani or Kings in the Federation Cup final.

Dhaka Wanderers Club, a forgotten name in the country’s football despite a glorious past, returned to top-flight football after 19 years following their runners-up finish in the Bangladesh Championship League, thanks to a goalless draw against BFF Elite Football Academy in their last match at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium in Kamalapur yesterday.

Players featuring in the ongoing Premier Division Hockey League are set to experience a different kind of Eid this time around, with many having to celebrate the joyous occasion away from their kin and others having a shortened holiday period.

The Bangladesh captain shared his Eid experience in Copenhagen.

The return of the Premier Division Hockey League, especially after a 27-month hiatus, might have provided some relief to the players and the officials, but the gulf of difference between the minnows and giants this season has raised eyebrows, while exposing the overall state of how the clubs are generally being run.

Having spent five years, Fahad finally achieved one of three GM norms yesterday.

Not that long ago, there used to be a dogfight among a number of teams for medals in the national and summer athletics championships.

A former member of the force which provides security for the Prime Minister and the President, Sarwar had a couple of pauses in his athletic pursuits. But he keeps coming back to track and field, which helped him clear 14.89 metres in the shot put event and eclipse the previous record set by Mohammad Ibrahim in 2019 by 0.36 metres.

Following the dramatic and confusing final of the SAFF U-19 Championship Women’s Championship on Thursday night, where both Bangladesh and India were declared joint winners, India coach Shukla Dutta told Indian media that they deserved the title and were robbed.

Abdur Razzak, a local coach who holds an AFC A level certification, was involved with the selection process in all three talent hunt programmes and accompanied the four promising players in Brazil as coach. The 55-year-old, who has been in the coaching profession for 23 years, spoke with The Daily Star’s Anisur Rahman about what happens in such overseas training programmes and why have the budding footballers not been able to make it big after returning home.

In July of 2020, at a time when Bangladesh like the rest of the world was battling the coronavirus, an image of a young man wielding a broom started making rounds in the country’s social media.

The newly appointed Minister of Youth and Sports Nazmul Hassan Papon made many great promises on the first day at his new office yesterday, promises the country's sports fraternity has heard before from his predecessors with very little implementation.

The disappointments in other sports could’ve been swept under the rug had the men’s cricket team performed up to expectations.

The year 2023 was expected to witness Bangladesh women's football progress in an upward trajectory on the back of winning the SAFF Women's Championship in September last year. It was not meant to be, unfortunately.

A face-off between two Dhaka-based football academies may have promised the prospect of an eye-pleasing game, but yesterday’s opening fixture BFF (U-15) Academy Championship scarcely lived up to expectations at the Birshreshtha Shaheed Mostafa Kamal Stadium.

AKM Maruful Haque has been involved in coaching since the second edition of the professional football league in the 2008-9 season, but the country's lone UEFA A licence coach, along with other successful coaches such as Shafiqul Islam Manik, Saiful Bari Titu, and Julfikar Mahmud Mintu, have not been involved with top-fight football for the first time in the professional era due to the influx of foreign coaches. The 54-year-old successful coach, who has 11 titles and six runners-up trophies to his name, spoke to Anisur Rahman of The Daily Star about various aspects of the country's coaches and coaching. The excerpts of the conversation are as follows:

Foreign coach hiring is common in global sports such as football, particularly among national teams. Bangladesh is no different in this regard, although this practice has extended in full force in the country’s top-flight domestic circuit of late -- leading to the marginalisation of similarly qualified local coaches.