The National Sports Council (NSC) has called upon all federations in the country to integrate high-skilled athletes of Bangladeshi origin and encourage them to represent Bangladesh.
According to the long-serving captain, the most notable transformation since Hamza’s arrival has been a dramatic rise in team confidence.
Jamal Bhuiyan, the most-capped player in Bangladesh’s history, is slowly becoming a peripheral figure in the team despite being the captain. To know his views on this issue and his overall plans in football, The Daily Star's Anisur Rahman and Atique Anam caught up with the Denmark-born midfielder. Following are the excerpts of the interview.
Hamza Choudhury was named in the starting XI for Bangladesh in their AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture against India, with regular captain Jamal Bhuiyan kept on the bench.
As Bangladesh gear up for their crucial Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture against India, captain Jamal Bhuiyan likened the excitement surrounding Hamza Choudhury’s homecoming to that of a global superstar.
Bangladesh national football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan said it would be a proud moment for the country to see Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury put on a red and green jersey, but wants to see more players like Hamza playing in the Bangladesh ranks.
Bangladesh coach Javier Cabrera has not included captain Jamal Bhuiyan in the preliminary squad for the upcoming FIFA friendlies against Maldives at home next month.
Bangladesh football team were expecting tough competition from Bhutan in the two FIFA friendly fixtures, the first of which kicks off at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimphu at 6:00pm today. And that is not necessarily due to the strength of the opposition but also an apparent lack of match-practice and fitness of the Bangladesh players.
Bangladesh football team captain Jamal Bhuiyan said that he had signed a contract with a local club on Friday but the midfielder was among the ones who were excluded from the list of players registered by the clubs for the upcoming Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
This achievement is the outcome of hard work, said defender Tapu Barman.
Bangladesh head coach Javier Cabrera will make his last attempt to figure out the right combination and fine-tune playing eleven before the upcoming SAFF Championship when his charges take on hosts Cambodia in Phnom Penh today.
“Our first target is to qualify for the semifinals,” Jamal told reporters on Sunday during the reporting of the players of the preliminary squad, which will start training tomorrow at Bashundhara Kings Arena.
Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan was dropped from the starting eleven in the second FIFA friendly against Seychelles at Sylhet District Stadium on Tuesday.
“I am in touch with Sol de Mayo and I’m trying to go to Argentina in May,” Jamal told The Daily Star in Sylhet on Monday, ahead of the second FIFA friendly against Seychelles. “I don’t want to waste the opportunity to play in Argentina.”
Being an Asian nation, Bangladesh rarely get the opportunity to play international football matches against nations from outside the continent. Bangladesh are set to play against the East African nation Seychelles at the Sylhet District Stadium today which will only be their fifth encounter against a team from Africa.
It has more or less been clear that Seychelles national football squad are full of amateur booters who play at the weekend after managing their individual jobs but the fact that they earn nothing through the sport is perhaps a quite surprising to the football-loving people of Bangladesh, who are used to seeing the country's national booters being paid millions of takas per season.
Ahead of the matches first of two FIFA friendlies against Seychelles, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan feels the need for having naturalised Nigerian footballer Eleta Kingsley in the squad as the 33-year-old forward is counting hours to make his debut for Bangladesh.
Jamal Bhuiyan’s dream of playing in Argentina’s third division league apparently came to an end as the Bangladesh captain was denied release by his club Sheikh Russel KC.
Even though Jamal initially denied the report, he admitted to The Daily Star on Tuesday that that he did get an offer from Sol De Mayo. However, his contract with Sheikh Russel is apparently a barrier in accepting the offer.
