Chittagong has only one club that compete in the premier league. The club have never tasted success and had to be content with a ninth-placed finish in the 11-team top-flight that concluded two months ago.
The city hosted an international football tournament for the very first time and its club were the lowest-ranked among the eight participants.
However, it took only 11 days for history to be created as Chittagong Abahani won their maiden trophy beating the top-ranked clubs from south Asia. Who would have possibly envisaged such a “fairytale” ending?
The port-city outfit though overcame all the hurdles yesterday, beating south Asia's top-ranked club East Bengal 3-1 in a thrilling final to clinch the title of the inaugural Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup.
Nigerian striker Eleta Kingsley stole the show once again as he netted his second brace of the tournament to enable Chittagong Abahani to come from behind and take the lead. Eleta also set up Hemanta Vincent Biswas for the third goal with all the action happening before the hour-mark. The rest was up to Chittagong Abahani goalkeeper Rasel Mahmud Liton and the defence, led admirably by Rezaul Karim.
The hosts went agonisingly close to opening the scoring in the 10th minute when Mithun Chowdhury failed to connect a cross from Nigerian forward Kingsley Chigozie from the right flank.
The beginning of the game did not favour the home side as East Bengal took the lead just a minute later through defender Avinabo Bag. The right-back took a shot from just outside the box and his effort deflected off Chittagong defender Rezaul before sneaking into the top right corner.
Sohel Rana denied the visitors from doubling the lead when the defender cleared Mohammad Rafique's header off the line in the 27th minute. Zahid, Sohel, Hemanta and Mithun troubled the opponents before Eleta finally penetrated the opponents' defence in the injury time of the first half.
Mithun rectified his early mistake with a lovely curled cross from the right flank that met Eleta in the middle of the box. The Nigerian striker's sliding header gave no chance to the East Bengal goalkeeper Dibyendu Sarkar. Chittagong Abahani head coach Shafiqul Islam Manik heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Chittagong Abahani began the second half with a more attacking approach and defender Rezaul kept the defence more solid and as a result the port city club scored two more before the hour mark.
Eleta netted his second to put the hosts ahead nine minutes after resumption. Mithun failed to connect a free-kick from Zahid but the Nigerian was there near the far post to smash home.
Hemanta bagged his first goal of the tournament to extend the lead three minutes later. Eleta this time was the architect of the goal with a superb lob which Hemanta converted with an even better header.
The two quick goals stunned the visitors who seemed to have lost their faith afterwards. The Chittagong Abahani defence remained solid and Liton also made few decent saves to make sure they did not concede their two-goal advantage.
Eleta could have had his hattrick in injury time but he bagged all the awards for his performance in the semi-final and final.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina congratulated the champions via video conference.