Following the successful introduction of Sheffield United midfielder Hamza Choudhury into the Bangladesh national team and the hype created by the England-based footballer's arrival and performance against India, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is spreading out its search for more Bangladeshi-origin footballers from Europe and other parts of the world.

Along with Hamza, there are quite a few overseas players' whose names have been spoken of with much fervour by the Bangladeshi football fan base for quite a long time. Among them is Shamit Shome, a Canada-based footballer of Bangladeshi origin who has played for Canada's age-level teams as well as the national team. However, his two appearances for Canada's senior team came way back in 2020.

BFF's vice-president Fahad Karim said they have contacted Shamit to know whether he would be interested in representing Bangladesh.

"We have contacted with Shamit Shome yesterday [Friday] and wanted to know whether he was interested to play for Bangladesh. He asked for two weeks' time to talk to his coach and others to decide on the issue," Karim told The Daily Star.

According to sources inside the BFF, the 27-year-old midfielder had previously shown reluctance to commit to Bangladesh, but now with Hamza coming, he may have a change of mind, which is what prompted the game's local governing body to contact him again.

As the inclusion of senior players who have represented another country takes a long process to complete, BFF is focusing more on scouting young players who play at a decent level in top leagues around the world.

"We are trying our best to find and nurture talent, whether foreign-based or local. There is a round-the-year scouting for talents by BFF coaches inside Bangladesh. Now we are reaching out, for the first time, to foreign-based players," Karim said.

The BFF vice-president informed that they have called for a four to five-day-long trial towards the end of June to try out around 30 players from Europe and North America.

"These players, who are all aged between 16 and 20, play between second and fourth tiers in their respective countries of residence. We will take their trial and let the technical committee decide on the next course of action. Most of them are from Europe, but there are a few from North America as well.