Bangladesh is soaking in the Messi magic as Argentina sails on in the World Cup 2026. While Brazil fans are not behind, and there exist a small section of fans of Germany, Netherlands, France, and England, in all these scenes, we see oceans of fans wearing jerseys of their favourite teams.
Perhaps Bangladesh now has more Argentina and Brazil flags on display than there are in their respective nations. Bangladesh’s frenzy is now known to the world, with global media waiting for photos from Bangladesh to boost their stream of content.
Argentina now has soft diplomatic ties with Bangladesh, with fans who have come all the way to Bangladesh to celebrate the World Cup.
Babul from Daulatkhan, Bhola, the street hawker next to my office, wears a big smile on his face: “Business has been good and his employer is happy.”
Like it does every four years, the World Cup fever has brought life to the micro and small enterprises in Bangladesh.
As I watch all the advertisements on Facebook luring me to buy another jersey, I wondered, how else can we leverage this fandom to boost our micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The answer lies not just in selling more jerseys at home, but in using Bangladesh’s extraordinary football fandom as a springboard for an untapped export category.
Bangladesh’s $173 million jersey economy
There is no official research and data to quantify the world cup merchandise trade in Bangladesh. Like most other sectors, it is informal and the revenue probably is not even accounted for by the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Bangladesh Sports Accessories Merchant Manufacturers and Importers Association (BSAMMIA) estimates a market of TK 1500-2000cr. I saw an advertisement where a business owner claimed that she sold 85,000 jerseys so far.
Bulbul, the hawker next to my office, said he is selling about Tk10000 worth of jerseys a day. The average price of his jerseys is Tk150. I bought my own from a sports store in Jamuna Future Park.
While I was there, they sold no less than 20 jerseys in about 15 minutes., with the average selling price being about Tk 1500. Everyone in my office has their jerseys.
Building on these data, I did my own math.
Based on conservative demographic assumptions, if 20% of the Gen Z, Millennial, and Gen X in Bangladesh have bought a jersey for Tk 800 on average, that sums up to Tk 1,906cr or $173m.
How big is this market and could it get bigger? I dived into global data and was caught by surprise.
The Yiwu blueprint: How China cornered the market
My research took me to Yiwu, a city of 2 million in Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Campaign Asia calls it “the world’s unofficial world cup commerce factory.”
China’s slice of the world cup merchandise is estimated to be around $2.9-3.5bn. Yiwu’s slice is estimated at $2-2.5bn. What makes Yiwu this big? Because it expands beyond official merchandise and controls the global fan merchandise and souvenirs which includes flags, scarves, and other novelty items.
Like China, Bangladesh too produces some of the official team jerseys. For World Cup 2026, so far, we know that Bangladesh produced the jerseys for the Cape Verde National Team.
But can Bangladesh get to the higher global value chain and carve a niche in the fan merchandise segment?
What China makes for the World Cup
The Argentina prize: A $420 million entry point
Given we have already won the hearts and minds of Argentine fans globally, I looked into the data on Argentina. Currently, Argentina football merchandise leads global sales charts.
The Messi mania boosts Argentina merchandise sales further. Analysts also say that some of the Argentina kits are likely to become investment pieces.
In 2022, Adidas was not able to restock fast enough to meet the demand. As per reports, 3.5 million units of the official Adidas Argentina jersey was sold in 2022.
At an average retail price of $90-120, this translates to $315-420m in revenue in 2022 just for the official kit and excluding scarves, balls, training gear, and accessories.
In 2026, sales are expected to be a record high given it is Messi’s final tournament. Some estimates suggest that there is an active fan base of 35 million in Argentina alone. Capturing a fraction of this market can give a big boost to export for Bangladesh.
For further records, the global football merchandise market in 2025 was estimated at $15.8bn and is projected to reach $29.1bn by 2035 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3%. The global football jersey market in 2026 is estimated at $8.7bn with compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.2%. Argentina fan merchandise can be our entry to this big market that China has made its own. How can we make it happen?
A five-point agenda to capture the opportunity
First, the government should immediately sit with the Argentina counterpart to secure a formal bilateral trade partnership that can work as an entry for Bangladesh in the Argentina market.
Second, it should work with BGMEA and BKMEA to launch jerseys co-branded as Argentina-Bangladesh. This will open-up a new category of fan jerseys in Argentina and avoids the clash with the jerseys sourced from China.
Third, the government should launch a fund to incentivize diversified fan merchandise. Take note of what China makes for the World Cup. By venturing into diversified fan merchandise for export to Argentina, we also open the market for diversified Argentina fan merchandise for the local market in Bangladesh. Once the Brazil fan base gets into this party, the market will balloon.
Fourth, the government should platform the existing viral fandom. Bangladesh’s content creators are already generating millions of views with World Cup content. The Ministry of ICT should partner with these digital creators to launch a coordinated “Made in Bangladesh” merchandise campaign across social media, turning organic fan energy into an export-marketing asset at near-zero cost.
Fifth, the government should use the World Cup as a nation-branding opportunity. Every official jersey produced in Bangladesh is a piece of soft power. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) should coordinate with garment exporters to ensure “Made in Bangladesh” is prominently visible in World Cup coverage, and to invite international buyers to visit factories during the tournament window, when global attention on football is highest.
From seasonal buzz to structural advantage
The government intends to promote sports and the creative economy. The World Cup 2026 provides a window of opportunity to support export diversification and to boost the MSMEs.
Through prudent soft-diplomacy and long-term investment into product diversification, Bangladesh can tap into a market that will continue to expand. The question is whether we have the policy imagination to turn a seasonal buzz into a structural advantage.
Md Rubaiyath Sarwar is Managing Director, Innovision Consulting.
