Bangladesh’s 1–0 win over India in Dhaka on 18 November in the Asian Cup qualifiers has now been rewarded financially. The victory marked Bangladesh’s first senior-level win over India in 22 years. Although the team missed out on qualifying for the Asian Cup’s main round, Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan announced a reward of tk 2 crore immediately after the match. Twenty-two days later, the payments were finally disbursed today (Wednesday).
At the National Sports Council headquarters this afternoon, national team captain Jamal Bhuiyan, team manager Amer Khan and BFF general secretary Imran Hossain Tushar collected the cheques from NSC director of training, Laboni Chakma. Each of the 23 players in the India match squad, head coach Javier Cabrera and manager Amer received tk 7 lakh each, while five members of the coaching staff received tk 5 lakh apiece.
However, several long-serving support staff members were left out. Team attendant Md Mohsin — who was also part of the squad when Bangladesh beat India in the 2003 SAFF semi-final — did not receive any bonus. Video analyst Nasif Islam, whose data underpins the team’s tactical planning, was also excluded. The media manager and team doctor similarly did not feature on the bonus list.
Explaining the distribution, team manager Amer said, “The federation had submitted a list of 40 names. Before the India match, a number of players, including Ibrahim, were in camp, so their names were included as part of the team. Today at the NSC, we received cheques for 30 people.”
Kazi Nazrul Islam, executive director of the National Sports Council, added, “Only those directly involved in the India match and who contributed to it were considered by the ministry’s highest policy-makers.”
In contrast, Bangladesh women’s football has previously benefited from more inclusive bonus structures. The SAFF-winning women’s team received tk 1.5 crore, while the squad that qualified for the Asian Cup received tk 50 lakh — and in both cases the media manager, video analyst and team doctor were included. For the men’s team, however, this has not been the case. Beyond the Bangladesh Olympic Association, neither sports federations nor the National Sports Council or ministry have any clear, standardised policy for allocating rewards.
