The festive mood prior to a football World Cup in Bangladesh has gone down bizarrely than the previous editions of the mega event with only nine days left till the curtain rises on the greatest show on earth.
Two of the most common ways to show support for the favorite teams are jerseys and flags, but interest in these two commodities among fans is lower than the previous years.
The Twenty20 World Cup of the country's most popular sport, cricket, is one of the reasons behind the lack of attention, but the respective people in the sports market said it is mainly because of the current economic condition.
Starting on October 16 this year through qualifiers, the final of the T20 World Cup will be held this Sunday, just a week before the Fifa World Cup 2022 Qatar.
Bangladesh have already taken the exit door from the competition that has dazzled the cricket-loving nation for nearly a month.
Bangladesh football team in contrast have never played the World Cup, but the enthusiasm across the country before and during every edition have been prevalent since 1986.
This time however, the usual build-up has not followed the same graph as before.
The economy is leaving a severe impact on the sports market and a decrease of clients.
According to flag and jersey sellers, demand for these two commodities used to begin two months before the tournament, but this time it is still remarkably low.
No document was available to expose the approximate scenario of the downfall, but a flag wholesaler thinks it is almost half than before, while others didn't hesitate to say it could even be one-10th in terms of jersey sales.
“Sales are 50-60% lower than last time,” Md Monir, 30, a flag wholesaler in Gulistan told Dhaka Tribune last Tuesday.
Another flag trader in the same area, Md Mizanur Rahman, 51, has been selling flags since the 2002 World Cup.
“I opened my shop two months ago but the selling just started. It's low so far. I sell around 100 pieces each day,” said Mizanur, who has flags of more than a dozen countries in his stock.
Some of the oldest and largest sports markets are located in Gulistan and one of them is Somobay Twin Tower Market.
Omar Chisty Sunny, the proprietor of a shop in this market, talked to Dhaka Tribune about the situation in jersey sales.
Sunny has experience of more than two decades in the sports market.
He said, “We used to start selling World Cup jerseys two or two and a half months early, but this time it has not started yet like before. Sales are one-10th than the past.”
He also said prices of all sports merchandises, including jerseys, have increased in recent times.
“The price of all commodities is high. People are even struggling to meet their daily needs. Sports is their latter choice,” said Sunny.
The wholesaler informed that the sales of Qatar World Cup football replica is close to zero.
“The market bought in around two lakh footballs two months ago but it managed to vend only 2-3,000 pieces so far,” he said before adding, “There is also a lack of media coverage so far, which usually starts 100 days before the World Cup.”
President of Bangladesh Sports Goods Merchants Manufacturers and Importers Association, Shamim, who has nine sports shops in the capital, drew attention to the winter kickoff of the World Cup.
“The interest is very low,” he admitted, before elaborating, “If the tournament had been held two-three months ago instead then the situation wouldn't be like this. We usually see such craze in June-July.”
“Another reason is the economic recession followed by the global pandemic. There is a dollar crisis in the country. We imported through LC (Letter of Credit) but LC is now closed due to a dollar crisis. We import 80% of our products from abroad.”
Some of the retail flag sellers were found in the streets of the capital.
One of them, Ratan Molla, 52, revealed in frustration that business is not booming like before.
“I can merely sell six to eight flags every day. It's difficult to survive. If I went to my village and worked as day-laborer, I could have earned more money,” he said.
“When people have money, they celebrate such a festival with joy, but if they don't, what can they do?”
