It was Nigerian striker Elijah Obagbemiro Jr who scored the first goal and first hattrick in Bangladesh's professional league history. There was absolute dominance of African players in Dhaka for a long time. Footballers hailing from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco and Sudan flocked the capital city from the beginning of the season to get a shot at a club side.
The influence was so big that at the end of the 2011-12 season, there were no local players among the top 10 scorers in the league. Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura netted 17 goals for Team BJMC as the highest scorer.
The best foreigner in recent years has been Sony Norde, who played in the 2016 Copa America for Haiti. He brought glamour and colour in the Dhaka field, along with his vision, dribbling skill and finishing ability. The winger started with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra where he won the club's first-ever league title and the historic treble.
Then big-spending Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club snatched Sony for a record fee the following season. They were heavily rewarded as the club scored the most number of goals in the league's history, reached the Indian Football Association Shield final in Kolkata and also won the King's Cup in Bhutan. It also marked the arrival of another Haitian, Wedson Anselme, who scored 26 goals in his debut season and is the only player to become top-scorer more than once.
Sheikh Jamal currently have the best foreign attacking line-up in the league, namely Nigerian striker Emeka Darlington and Gambian midfielder Landing Darboe. Let's not forget Haitian forward Leonel Preux, who is now playing for Sheikh Russel, and Abahani's English playmaker Lee Tuck, this season’s top performer so far.
The name that should not be forgotten while talking about foreign footballers in Bangladesh professional league era is Ghanaian midfielder Awudu Ibrahim. Awudu and defender Samad Yussif are the only foreigners to be playing here since 2007. Awudu guided Abahani for a long time and played a vital role in the club’s hattrick title in the first three editions of the professional league. Awudu is now playing for Brothers Union while Samad left and rejoined Abahani.
The vast dominance of foreign forwards might have had a hand in hampering the growth of the national team's local strikers. Recently, Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet showed a bit of frustration while watching the opening round of the Bangladesh Premier League this season after finding out a lack of presence of local players upfront. He only found two clubs playing with local strikers.
To solve its striker crisis, the Bangladesh Football Federation even once planned to provide the naturalisation of foreign players last year to include foreign footballers in the national team. Samad, Bangoura and Eleta Kingsley made headlines but the project later stopped due to criticism from media and former footballers.Since the introduction of the professional football league in Bangladesh nine years ago, only on one occasion did a local player become the top scorer. This was seven years ago. The rest of the time it has been the foreign forwards who have dominated this list.
Their overall supremacy is apparent when one looks at the squad of any club, be it a top one or a minnow. Every team fill their attacking options with foreign recruits.
Not only for the standard of the local stars but also in terms of the quality of foreign players, the 1980s marked a significant era in the history of foreign footballers in Bangladesh. It began with Abahani Limited signing the Iraqi duo Samir Shaker and Karim Allawi and Mohammedan Sporting Club bringing in the legendary Iranian goalkeeper Nasser Hejazi, who played in the 1978 World Cup.
Hejazi also coached Mohammedan in 1988 before becoming the Bangladesh team head coach the following year. He also received an offer from English giants Manchester United after the World Cup and trained and played with the club for a month but the Iranian Revolution halted his move. The two-time Asian Cup winner was ranked the second-best Asian goalkeeper of the 20th century by the Asian Football Confederation in 2000.
Shaker, then one of the best central defenders in Asia, and midfielder Allawi played for Iraq in their famous 1986 World Cup campaign. He also became infamous during the tournament after he spat at the referee in the game against Belgium. Along with a yellow card, he also received a one-year suspension and would never play for his country again. Abahani were his first club after the World Cup.
Shaker later became one of Bangladesh’s most successful coaches after leading the country to the runners-up trophy in the 1999 South Asian Football Federation Championship and the South Asian Games title in the same year. He also coached Abahani and Mohammedan.
Emeka Ezeugo was another vibrant presence who Bangladesh football fans still remember. The Nigerian defender Emeka, who was in the Nigeria squad for the 1994 World Cup, played for Mohammedan in the late 1980s and returned to the club as head coach in 2012.
Bangladesh football has rarely seen players of that calibre in the last decade. Before the start of the first professional league in 2007, Argentine coach Diego Cruciani took charge of Abahani bringing in three Argentine players along with him and one of them, defender Merino Caporale marked his name as the toughest defender to face at that time.
It was Nigerian striker Elijah Obagbemiro Jr who scored the first goal and first hattrick in Bangladesh's professional league history. There was absolute dominance of African players in Dhaka for a long time. Footballers hailing from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco and Sudan flocked the capital city from the beginning of the season to get a shot at a club side.
The influence was so big that at the end of the 2011-12 season, there were no local players among the top 10 scorers in the league. Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura netted 17 goals for Team BJMC as the highest scorer.
The best foreigner in recent years has been Sony Norde, who played in the 2016 Copa America for Haiti. He brought glamour and colour in the Dhaka field, along with his vision, dribbling skill and finishing ability. The winger started with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra where he won the club's first-ever league title and the historic treble.
Then big-spending Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club snatched Sony for a record fee the following season. They were heavily rewarded as the club scored the most number of goals in the league's history, reached the Indian Football Association Shield final in Kolkata and also won the King's Cup in Bhutan. It also marked the arrival of another Haitian, Wedson Anselme, who scored 26 goals in his debut season and is the only player to become top-scorer more than once.
Sheikh Jamal currently have the best foreign attacking line-up in the league, namely Nigerian striker Emeka Darlington and Gambian midfielder Landing Darboe. Let's not forget Haitian forward Leonel Preux, who is now playing for Sheikh Russel, and Abahani's English playmaker Lee Tuck, this season’s top performer so far.
The name that should not be forgotten while talking about foreign footballers in Bangladesh professional league era is Ghanaian midfielder Awudu Ibrahim. Awudu and defender Samad Yussif are the only foreigners to be playing here since 2007. Awudu guided Abahani for a long time and played a vital role in the club’s hattrick title in the first three editions of the professional league. Awudu is now playing for Brothers Union while Samad left and rejoined Abahani.
The vast dominance of foreign forwards might have had a hand in hampering the growth of the national team's local strikers. Recently, Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet showed a bit of frustration while watching the opening round of the Bangladesh Premier League this season after finding out a lack of presence of local players upfront. He only found two clubs playing with local strikers.
To solve its striker crisis, the Bangladesh Football Federation even once planned to provide the naturalisation of foreign players last year to include foreign footballers in the national team. Samad, Bangoura and Eleta Kingsley made headlines but the project later stopped due to criticism from media and former footballers.
It was Nigerian striker Elijah Obagbemiro Jr who scored the first goal and first hattrick in Bangladesh's professional league history. There was absolute dominance of African players in Dhaka for a long time. Footballers hailing from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco and Sudan flocked the capital city from the beginning of the season to get a shot at a club side.
The influence was so big that at the end of the 2011-12 season, there were no local players among the top 10 scorers in the league. Guinean striker Ismael Bangoura netted 17 goals for Team BJMC as the highest scorer.
The best foreigner in recent years has been Sony Norde, who played in the 2016 Copa America for Haiti. He brought glamour and colour in the Dhaka field, along with his vision, dribbling skill and finishing ability. The winger started with Sheikh Russel Krira Chakra where he won the club's first-ever league title and the historic treble.
Then big-spending Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi Club snatched Sony for a record fee the following season. They were heavily rewarded as the club scored the most number of goals in the league's history, reached the Indian Football Association Shield final in Kolkata and also won the King's Cup in Bhutan. It also marked the arrival of another Haitian, Wedson Anselme, who scored 26 goals in his debut season and is the only player to become top-scorer more than once.
Sheikh Jamal currently have the best foreign attacking line-up in the league, namely Nigerian striker Emeka Darlington and Gambian midfielder Landing Darboe. Let's not forget Haitian forward Leonel Preux, who is now playing for Sheikh Russel, and Abahani's English playmaker Lee Tuck, this season’s top performer so far.
The name that should not be forgotten while talking about foreign footballers in Bangladesh professional league era is Ghanaian midfielder Awudu Ibrahim. Awudu and defender Samad Yussif are the only foreigners to be playing here since 2007. Awudu guided Abahani for a long time and played a vital role in the club’s hattrick title in the first three editions of the professional league. Awudu is now playing for Brothers Union while Samad left and rejoined Abahani.
The vast dominance of foreign forwards might have had a hand in hampering the growth of the national team's local strikers. Recently, Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet showed a bit of frustration while watching the opening round of the Bangladesh Premier League this season after finding out a lack of presence of local players upfront. He only found two clubs playing with local strikers.
To solve its striker crisis, the Bangladesh Football Federation even once planned to provide the naturalisation of foreign players last year to include foreign footballers in the national team. Samad, Bangoura and Eleta Kingsley made headlines but the project later stopped due to criticism from media and former footballers.