‘France have a high chance of becoming the champions’

In 1963, Pratap joined Mohammedan SC, where he served until his retirement in 1977.
In 1964, he made his Pakistan national team debut. Later, he went to Kolkata to join the Mukti Bahini.

In June 1971, Shamsul Haque Chowdhury, a Bangladeshi politician, requested footballers to form a national team on behalf of the Bangladesh Government in exile. Pratap and Imam traveled to Agartala to gather players for the Shadhin Bangla football team.

This former star athlete believes that actually, 48 teams are playing in the FIFA World Cup 2026. It is difficult to remember who is playing. When the World Cup starts, for example, there is a discussion in one’s house that Brazil will be the champions, and in another’s house that Argentina will be. Outside of that, there would not be much discussion. Now, among so many teams, it is a matter of which team will be the champions, which team to support.

He thinks that many of the established stars will not be able to perform well with their names this time. Because, many of them are old. He sees Brazil’s rhythmic football and the charisma of some stars as one of the main attractions of the World Cup.

Currently, there are many good players close to Messi and Neymar, like Mbappe. However, there was a time when Brazil’s game had a different attraction.

Everyone on the team was a special level of footballer. As a result, they became champions several times in a row.

This time, the chances of a European team winning the World Cup are high. I would put France ahead of that list. And in my eyes, Croatia is second on the list of possibilities.