Craze in Bangladesh for World Cup
FIFA World Cup 2026 came to an end on Sunday. Tens of thousands spectators of Bangladesh watched the matches of FIFA World Cup.
The crazy fans of Bangladesh divided into two groups (Argentina and Brazil) were engaged in this World Cup fever. Besides, there were some supporters of France, England and Germany also eagerly watched the matches of this World Cup.
A total of 48 teams took part in the FIFA World Cup, which is called ‘Greatest Show on the Earth’. This was for the first time the gala extravaganza was a 48-team tournament. Earlier, the FIFA World Cup 2022 was a 32-team affair.
Though Bangladesh could not qualify for the FIFA World Cup, but a small number of journalists and a small number of spectators went to the venues of FIFA World Cup 2026. This was for the first time three countries hosted FIFA World Cup. They were United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
Though Bangladesh never ever played in the World Cup, but almost all the spectators of the whole country kept their attention to this World Cup.
The crazy fans of World Cup of Bangladesh arranged giants screen in some places of Dhaka City and other major cities of Bangladesh.
Specially a large number of spectators watched the matches of FIFA World Cup 2026 in front of TSC in Dhaka University, which is called Oxford University of the East.
Though most of the football fans of Bangladesh were divided into Argentina and Brazil, but we did not get any news that the fans of Argentina and Brazil were engaged in clash.
It was a pity that Brazil, one of the favourites of this World Cup were eliminated from this tournament after conceded a 1-2 goals defeat to Norway in the round of sixteen. On the other hand, Argentina reached the final and were waiting to clinch the title of FIFA World Cup 2026, till filing this report.
Lionel Messi of Argentina, Kylian Mbappe of France, Erling Haaland of Norway, Harry Kane of England and Jude Bellingham of England fought for the Golden Boot Award, the player who scored the most goals in the FIFA World Cup 2026. The prize is most coveted award for a footballer.
Earlier, former president of Bangladesh Football Federation Kazi Salahuddin stated Bangladesh will play in the FIFA World Cup 2022. But Bangladesh were ousted from FIFA World Cup Qualifiers 2022 and failed to reach the final round.
However, it is good news for Bangladesh that Bangladesh National Football team showed a spectacular performance in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers. Bangladesh-origin expatriate players like Hamza Choudhury, Shamit Shome, Zayyan Ahmed made renaissance for Bangladesh and regained hype of football of Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned that Bangladesh National Cricket team played in the International Cricket Council (ICC) ODI World Cups and ICC T20I World Cups.
So, Bangladesh Cricket team reached an international level in the world cricket. But if we compare the popularity between cricket of Bangladesh and football of Bangladesh, we find football is more popular than cricket, though Bangladesh could not play in the FIFA World Cup Football.
It is an optimistic news for Bangladesh that FIFA, the governing body of world football has taken an initiative to arrange a 64-team World Cup in the next tournaments. If Bangladesh can present a better brand of football, it is not far away that Bangladesh will play in the FIFA World Cup one day.
