Bangladesh Football Federation

Bangladesh Football Federation (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ ফুটবল ফেডারেশন, Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn) is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, as well as the Bangladesh Premier League and various other competitions and tournaments. The BFF was one of founding members of the South Asian Football Federation. Its office is based at the BFF Bhaban, in Motijheel Thana of the country's capital, Dhaka.

Bangladesh Football Federation

AFC
Short name	BFF, বাফুফে (bafufe)
Founded	15 July 1972; 53 years ago (1972-07-15)
Headquarters	Dhaka, Bangladesh
FIFA affiliation	1976; 49 years ago (1976)
AFC affiliation	1973; 52 years ago (1973)[a]
SAFF affiliation	1997; 28 years ago (1997)
President	Tabith Awal
Vice-President	Imrul Hasan
General Secretary	Imran Hossain Tushar
Website	bff.com.bd

History

The Bangladesh Football Federation was founded on 15 July 1972 by Md. Yousuf Ali, the country's former Minister for Education, Culture and Sport; the general secretary under Ali was Abul Hashem of Wari Club.^[4]

It became affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1973, and FIFA in 1976.^[5] It is also a founding member of South Asian Football Federation. Bangladesh has been elected to be part of the AFC Executive Committee for two four-year terms: in 1982–1986 and 1998–2002. Hafizuddin Ahmed was elected vice-president of the AFC for the term from 1990 to 1994.^[4]

After Bangladesh gained independence in the early 1970s, the BFF assumed responsibility for the Dhaka League including its First Division, which had begun in 1948. The league resumed for the 1973 season. It was eventually replaced by a Premier Division in 1993, but has since been superseded by the professional football league, the Bangladesh Premier League (founded in 2007 as the B.League) and the Bangladesh Championship League (in 2012), and now exists only as a regional league at the third tier of the nation's football league pyramid.

In 1980, the Federation started the Federation Cup, which grew to be the country's top national cup competition.

On 10 April 2005, AFC President Mohammed bin Hammam inaugurated the BFF Bhaban, the Federation's FIFA-financed office.^[6]

In 2009, it launched the Super Cup tournament, which ran in 2009, 2011 and 2013. In 2013, the prize money for winning the competition was Tk10 million.^[7] In the inaugural competition, Mohammedan SC beat arch-rivals Abahani Limited Dhaka.^[8]

Executive committee

Board of directors

As of November 2024

Name	Position	Source
Tabith Mohammed Awal	President	[9][10]
Imrul Hasan	Senior Vice-president	[11][12]
Nasser Shahrear Zahedee[13]	2nd Vice-president	[11][12]
Wahid Uddin Chowdhury Happy[13]	3rd Vice-president	[11][12]
Sabbir Ahmed Arif[13]	4th Vice-president	[11][12]
Fahad Mohammed Ahmed Karim[13]	5th Vice-president	[11][12]
Imran Hossain Tushar	General Secretary	[14]
Saiful Bari Titu	Technical Director	[11][15]
Javier Cabrera	Team Coach (Men's)	[11][12]
Peter Butler	Team Coach (Women's)	[16][17]

Presidents

President	Took office	Left office	Ref
Muhammad Yusuf Ali	1972	1973	[18]
Gazi Golam Mostafa	1973	1976	[19]
Mir Shawkat Ali	1976	1978	[20]
Siddique Ahmed	1978	1980
Abdur Raquib Khandaker	1980	1986	[21]
Harun Ahmed Chowdhury	1986	1986
Hafizuddin Ahmed	1986	1989	[22]
Mahmudul Hasan	1989	1992
Oli Ahmad	1992	1994	[23]
Mohammad Hanif	1996	2001	[24]
AM Azizul Haque	2001	2001
SA Sultan	2001	2008	[25]
Kazi Salahuddin	2008	2024	[26]
Tabith Awal	2024	Present	[27]

Technical director

President	Took office	Left office	Ref
Shahidur Rahman Shantoo	2008	2010	[28]
Bayazid Alam Zubair Nipu	2010	2015	[29]
Paul Smalley	2016	2019	[30]
Stuart Watkiss	2020	2020	[31]
Paul Smalley	2020	2023	[32]
Saiful Bari Titu	2024	Present	[33]

Competitions

Men's club competitions

As of August 2023

Competitions currently run by BFF:

Competition	First season	Current champion	Remarks
Bangladesh Premier League	2007	Bashundhara Kings	The country's top-tier football league.
Federation Cup	1980	Mohammedan SC	The country's top-tier leagues cup competition.
Independence Cup	1972	Bashundhara Kings	The country's national cup competition.
Challenge Cup	2024	Bashundhara Kings	The country's super cup competition.
Bangladesh Championship League	2012	Brothers Union	The country's 2nd tier football league.
Senior Division League	1948	Somaj Kallyan KS Mugda	The country's 3rd tier football league.
Second Division League	1948	Saif SC Youth Team	The country's 4th tier football league.
Third Division League	1948	Chawkbazar Kings	The country's 5th tier football league.
Pioneer Football League	1981	Barishal Football Academy	The country's 6th tier football league.
BFF U-18 Football Tournament	2014	NoFeL Sporting Club U-18	The country's U-18 club football tournament.
BFF U-18 Football League	2021–22	Sheikh Jamal DC U-18	The country's top tier U-18 football league.
BFF U-16 Football Tournament	2021–22	Kawran Bazar PS U-16	The country's U-16 football tournament.

Other competitions

As of October 2022

Competitions currently run by BFF:

Competition	First Season	Current Champion	Remarks
Bangabandhu Cup	1996–97	Palestine	International football tournament.
Bangamata U-19 Women's International Gold Cup	2019	Bangladesh & Laos	International U-19 Women's football tournament.
Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup	2015	Terengganu F.C.	International clubs football tournament.
Sheikh Russel U-18 Gold Cup	2021–22	Wari Thana	The country's Metropolis Thanas football competition
National Football Championship	1973	Bangladesh Army	District and institutional cup tournament.
Bangladesh Women's Football League	2011	Bashundhara Kings	The country's women's professional clubs football league.

Defunct

As of June 2023

Competitions previously run by BFF:

Competition	First Season	Last Season	Last Champion	Remarks
Aga Khan Cup	1958	1981–82	Bangkok Bank F.C. and Brothers Union [Shared after 1–1 draw]	Continental club competition last held in 1982.
President's Gold Cup	1981	1993	Petrolul Ploiești	International football tournament.
First Division League	1993	2004–05	Rahmatganj MFS	2nd tier semi-professional football league last held in 2005.
National Football League	2000	2006	Mohammedan SC	The country's first semi-professional national league last held in 2006.
Super Cup	2009	2013	Mohammedan SC	The country's highest budgeted cup football competition.

Stadiums

Main article: List of football stadiums in Bangladesh

• National Stadium, Dhaka
• BSSS Mostafa Kamal Stadium, Dhaka
• MA Aziz Stadium, Chittagong
• Sylhet District Stadium, Sylhet
• Shamsul Huda Stadium' Jessore
• Rajshahi District Stadium, Rajshahi
• Shaheed Kamruzzaman Stadium, Rajshahi
• Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Stadium, Gopalgonj
• Shaheed Salam Stadium, Feni
• Mymensingh Stadium, Mymensingh
• Shaheed Dhirendranath Stadium, Comilla
• Shaheed Bulu Stadium, Noakhali
• Sheikh Kamal Stadium, Nilphamari
• Bangladesh Army Stadium, Dhaka
• Munshigonj Stadium, Munshiganj
• Shaheed Ahsan Ullah Master Stadium, Gazipur
• Bashundhara Kings Arena, Dhaka

Official partners

Nitol-Tata the sole distributor of Tata vehicles in Bangladesh was the official sponsor between 2000 till 2005.

In April 2008, BFF secured BDT 165 million (approximately US$2,285,714) in sponsorship from Citycell (Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited) for a three-year period. This was a record-breaking amount in the history of football sponsorship in Bangladesh.^[34]

Later in 2010, it made contract with Grameenphone – country's leading mobile phone operator, for the sponsorship of BFF's tournaments.

BFF secured US$70,000 for one year when Nitol-Tata again became the official sponsor for the 2013–14 season.

On 13 March 2022, Pusti became the beverage partner of Bangladesh Football Federation following a two-year agreement.^[35]

See also

• Bangladesh national football team
• Bangladesh women's national football team
• List of Bangladeshi football champions
• Football in Bangladesh

Notes

1. The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) attained provisional membership in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in 1973, making them eligible to participate in AFC-administered competitions.^[1][2] Their membership was eventually ratified on 14 September 1974.^[3]