Season opener highlights football’s ground realities
In a repeat encounter of last season’s Challenge Cup fixture, Federation Cup winners Bashundhara Kings thrashed Bangladesh Premier League champions Mohammedan by 4-1 in the curtain-raiser of the new football season at the Shaheed Dhirendranath Dutta Stadium in Cumilla yesterday..
20 September 2025, 02:30 AM
20 September 2025, 02:30 AM
Interview / ‘Modern football demands athletes’
In a freewheeling interview with The Daily Star's Atique Anam at the team hotel in Dhaka, the former West Ham United midfielder opened up about his football methodology, plans for the future, the shortcomings of the federation, men's football, and the controversies he has found himself in.
27 July 2025, 04:00 AM
27 July 2025, 04:00 AM
'Time the officials paid back for the sacrifice of players and coaching staff'
In a conversation with The Daily Star, Alfaz Ahmed spoke about the secret of Mohammedan's success in the league and what he expects from the club in the wake of this title triumph.
18 May 2025, 09:00 AM
18 May 2025, 09:00 AM
‘Hamza has helped us raise the level and quality of our game’
In this interview with The Daily Star, Bangladesh Football Federation president Tabith Awal spoke about both women's and men's teams and the controversies surrounding football.
7 April 2025, 02:00 AM
7 April 2025, 02:00 AM
Bangladesh football riding the Hamza wave
When Bangladesh football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan told the press on Thursday, “It feels our [Lionel] Messi is here,” about the arrival of Hamza Choudhury, he wasn’t exaggerating.
22 March 2025, 01:00 AM
22 March 2025, 01:00 AM
Rebel women footballers at a dead end?
The 18 senior players of Bangladesh national women’s team, who have been boycotting training since head coach Peter Butler returned to the country, seem to have shot themselves on the foot after refusing to sign contracts offered by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) on Monday.
12 February 2025, 02:04 AM
12 February 2025, 02:04 AM
The World Cup should not be a mere extension of the IPL
For those cricket fans who have got used to enjoying the sight of batters steamrolling bowlers of all ilk over the past 65 days or so, will the forthcoming T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies may prove to be a bit of a turn-off.
28 May 2024, 18:00 PM
28 May 2024, 18:00 PM
Should Murshedy get away with sweeping dirt under the rug?
In stark contrast to many developed nations where people in power often relinquish their positions in face of charges of corruption or incompetence even before allegations are proved in a show of true accountability -- there is a disturbing tendency to brush aside all sorts of allegations, even after proven, under the rug by the people in power in countries like Bangladesh, which ranks among the lowest in various corruption indexes.
25 May 2024, 02:00 AM
25 May 2024, 02:00 AM
History-makers Kings playing a different ball-game
After referee Symoon Hasan Sunny blew the final whistle following Bashundhara Kings’ 2-1 win against Mohammedan in Mymensingh yesterday, ensuring the Kings’ historic fifth consecutive title of the Bangladesh Premier League, two-goal hero Dorielton Gomes sunk to his knees before laying on the ground, thanking the heavens for what they had just achieved.
11 May 2024, 18:30 PM
Cabrera losing Salahuddin’s trust?
The BFF boss watched from the VIP Box of the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Tuesday as Bangladesh conceded a stoppage time goal in a 1-0 home loss against the Middle Eastern nation, five days after being thrashed 5-0 by the same side in Kuwait.
28 March 2024, 01:00 AM
‘We are back to where we were 20 years ago’
In an interview over phone with The Daily Star, golfer Siddikur Rahman spoke about the disappointment of the last season, his target for the new season, the changes in his game and in the golfing landscape overall and other aspects.
17 February 2024, 01:40 AM
Abahani vs Mohammedan: Worth gold in nostalgia
Almost every major football crazy city in the world has a historic club rivalry that it can brag about. Kolkata, London, Manchester, Milan, Madrid – you name it and there’s at least one colourful and storied rivalry to whet the appetite of football fans.
26 May 2023, 18:00 PM
Maradona must be smiling
While the fans of Italian football continue to struggle to convince their peers from the English Premier League and LaLiga about the relevance of Serie A in European footballing hierarchy, it is with a renewed optimism that they can now boast about Napoli – the new entertainers of European football.
24 March 2023, 18:00 PM
Hijacking success, chasing clout
The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) seems to have mastered the art of spoiling its own party every time it achieves something substantial. It has this uncanny knack of producing moments of controversy just when the whole nation is looking towards it with great anticipation.
11 February 2023, 18:00 PM
The inexplicable case of Argentina’s second coming
Bangladesh is a queer case of polar extremes.
21 January 2023, 18:00 PM
From doubted to immortalised
Lionel Scaloni hardly ever shows emotion in the dugout. Whether his team scores a crucial goal or a spectacular one, he hardly moves a facial muscle, let alone unleash a joyous celebration like the ones you see from most coaches around the world. He sits there with a straight face, like a monk deep in meditation.
20 December 2022, 03:00 AM
All roads lead to Lusail
Vamos Argentina has been the resounding choir on match days and non-match days, among Argentina fans who made up a majority of the Qatar 2022 fanbase. Now there was Allez Les Bleus -- another choir to rival that. Maybe the roars of ‘Allez Les Blues’ was not as deafening as La Albiceleste’s ‘Vamos Argentina’, but certainly equal in expectation and fervour.
19 December 2022, 03:00 AM
Argentina's Angel of fortune
Maybe it is Angel di Maria's fate, like that of so many other talented Argentina players, that he was born in Lionel Messi's time; that he had to play his whole international career under the shadow of Messi.
19 December 2022, 02:27 AM
Messi no mortal
Lionel Messi worked his magic on the Lusail Iconic Stadium pitch to deliver a third World Cup trophy for Argentina as the Albiceleste emerged victorious following a thrilling penalty shootout on Sunday night.
19 December 2022, 01:00 AM
Desert Fest: Must leave a lasting legacy
As the FIFA World Cup bandwagon winds down on Qatar and moves to North and Central America, it is time to look back at what the 2022 edition -- the first World Cup held in the Middle East -- offered to the world.
18 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Contrasting background but similar passion to win
When defending champions France take on Argentina in the World Cup final tonight, all the focus will certainly be on the likes of Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. However, two men on the pitch will perhaps play as important a role, if not more, than these two – Hugo Lloris and Emiliano Martinez.
18 December 2022, 03:30 AM
‘Argentina will win WC for their fans in Palestine’
Ihab Abu Alkheir was only eight years old when he, along with his family members in Gaza, Palestine, watched as Diego Maradona wept after losing the final of the 1990 World Cup final against Germany.
18 December 2022, 02:30 AM
A final about more than two standouts
As the four-week long football extravaganza draws to a close in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday, expectation,
18 December 2022, 01:00 AM
Defier of odds, Croatia and Morocco hope to end on high
Following morale-shattering defeats in their semifinals of the World Cup, Croatia and Morocco have the unenviable job of picking themselves up and getting prepared for the third-place decider on Saturday.
17 December 2022, 04:00 AM
Onus on Argentina, France to keep the thrill alive
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, on Friday, hailed the Qatar World Cup as the best one ever.
16 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Rajab Ali's ordeal
Rajab Ali has been away from home for 22 years. He spent 16 years in Saudi Arabia before coming to neighbouring Qatar six years ago, and he hasn't been home for the past six years.
16 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Real lives in ‘artificial’ land
If you happen to come to Qatar from the subcontinent, you could often get confused whether you landed in an Arab land some 3000-4000 kilometres away from home or you were just in another of Bangladesh or India or Pakistan.
16 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Mbappe with world at his feet
When Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi broke the 100m dollar mark in annual earnings for the first time, both of them were in their 30s. In comparison, Kylian Mbappe broke that threshold at 23 and is about to be anointed as the richest-earning footballer of all time, according to Forbes.
16 December 2022, 03:00 AM