BANGLADESH PREMIER LEAGUE

The Bangladesh premier league was founded in 2nd March 2007. The first season for the Bangladeshi league started effectively in the year 2007. All the teams which participates in the league will either compete for Federation Cup or the Bangladesh league Super Cup. 

 Bangladesh Premier League Logo

Dhaka Abahani is the only team to win most titles in the league history. Dhaka Abahani FC has a total of 4 premier league titles so far. Since establishment in 2007, Dhaka Abahani won the premier league titles for 3 consecutive seasons. The 4th season was taken by another team called Sheikh Jamal.

 Abahani FC posing before playing with Crown FC in 2011.

Photo: www.cmbodiafootball.blogspot.com

 The current champion in the Bangladesh premier league is Sheikh Russel. The top scorer in the league was the Ghanaian player Osei Morrison. Morrison has netted a total of 11 goals to become a top scorer. It is very interesting to see the way African players are struggling to play football out of their countries. Morrison plays for Dhaka Mohammedan. Morisson’s team finished in the 4th position in the league tables, just after the historical champions Dhaka Abahani, which is on the 3rd place.

The Bangladeshi premier currently consists of 9 teams. 6 teams out of these 9 use the Bangabandhu National Stadium. The Bangladeshi premier is supervised by the Bangladeshi Football Federation (BFF). The president of BFF is called Kazi Sallahuddin. The president played football in Bangladesh. In 1969 he played for Wari Fc. In 1970, he joined Mohammedan FC. He also played for Abahani FC from 1972-1984.

 Abahani players in blue shorts when they played 

with Feni Soccer Club in November 2012

Abahani won by 3-0.

[Photo: www.news.priyo.com]

Apart from Osei Morrison the Ghanaian, some other notable players from Africa have played in the Bangladeshi league. For example, the top scorer of the Bangladeshi Premier for the year 2007 was Elijah Obagbemiro Junior who played for Brothers Union FC, and he scored a total of 16 goals.

In 2009 again another Nigerian international called Alamu Bukola Olalekan, played for Dhaka Mohammedan and netted a total of 18 goals. In 2012 an African player Ismael Bangoura from Guinea scored 17 goals. Bongoura played for Team BJMC.

Once the team is relegated from the Bangladeshi Premier is relegated to the Bangladesh Championship League. Under this rule Arambagh FC has been relegated to the lower league.

Sheikh Russel which is the current champion has collected a total of 38 points. Arambagh has collected a total of 9 points. The top scorer in the league does not come from among the top three teams. The top scorer comes from Dhaka Mohammedan and it is in the 5th position. It is not very common to have a top scorer from the middle position in the league table. In most cases, the player with many goals comes from the champion and in some cases from the 2nd or even 3rd position team.

These African players who play in the Bangladesh Premier League are not called usually by their national teams to represent their countries in various competitions. This might be because of playing in a not very famous league. To be chosen in the squad of Ghana at least you should be playing in England, Italy, France or even Spain. Such countries have a lot professionals in different European countries such that it is very hard for the coach to choose the best players.