Hamza Choudhury, who is in Dhaka on a short personal trip, arrived at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka on Wednesday evening for a Robi brand event at 5pm. It was there that the Daily Times of Bangladesh put the question to him: what is his biggest dream about Bangladesh football? His answer set the ambition bar as high as it goes.
“My biggest dream in terms of Bangladesh football is to take my team into the World Cup,” Choudhury said. “Maybe go one step at a time, qualify for the Asian Cup first. So I just want to contribute as much as I can for the team with all my experience.”
Bangladesh currently sit 181st in the FIFA rankings, and the side did not make it through 2026 World Cup qualifying , eliminated at the second round of AFC qualification. The country has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup and made only one AFC Asian Cup appearance, in 1980. The 2027 Asian Cup qualifier campaign, which Bangladesh fell short in, underlines just how steep the gradient remains.
Choudhury has featured in nine of Bangladesh’s ten matches since making his international debut, scoring four goals in the process. For a player of his experience, the step up to international football with a side ranked 181st in the world represents a genuine commitment to the cause rather than a vanity project.
He was equally direct about his club aspirations. “In terms of club football, I think I have already achieved a lot with Leicester City. Obviously, I want to take them to the Champions League,” he said.
Leicester were relegated to League One in April 2026 after back-to-back demotions, dropping into the third tier of English football for the first time since 2009. It comes just ten years on from their Premier League title triumph under Claudio Ranieri, a run to the Champions League quarter-finals, and an FA Cup victory.
For Leicester to reach the Champions League from League One, the club would need to win promotion twice simply to return to the Premier League, and then finish in the top five of the top flight, a journey that, on current trajectory, spans several seasons at minimum.
