Excitement in Bangladesh football has reached fever pitch with the arrival of the Hamza Choudhury bandwagon in Dhaka.
Having departed from Manchester, the 27-year old set foot at his hometown in Habiganj, Sylhet Monday where the former England Under-21 international received a rapturous welcome.
Following a seemingly restless time at his home district thronged by hundreds of football-loving locals of all ages and walks of life, the defensive midfielder currently on loan at Sheffield United joined the national team in the capital Tuesday.
On Wednesday, a few layers were added to the anticipation owing to his first official press conference as a Bangladesh player.
Not only for his fans gathered at Hotel InterContinental, but also for the assembled print, electronic and online media.
After all, it is not everyday that a Leicester City player (Hamza’s parent club) with Premier League experience comes to town.
Leicester were previously English top-flight champions less than a decade ago, upsetting all odds and equations, while the Premier League is considered by many to be the best/toughest league in the world.
Start of Bangladesh journey
Born in the UK, Leicester academy graduate Hamza, who also featured for Burton Albion and Watford, received his Bangladesh passport in August last year, before getting the No Objection Certificate from the English Football Association and the green signal from FIFA’s players’ status chamber.
After an anxious wait for the fans, the former FA Cup winner was finally included in the Bangladesh squad for the upcoming 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifier match against India, slated for March 25.
It has been a while since Hamza expressed interest to play for Bangladesh and everything has now fallen into place for him to realise his dream of donning the red and green jersey.
All roads lead to Shillong
The Bengal Tigers will begin their Asian Cup qualifiers in earnest this Tuesday against India in Group C, also comprising Hong Kong and Singapore.
Following home-and-away legs in each group, only the six group champions from the third and last round of qualifiers will progress to the finals of Asia's most prestigious tournament in Saudi Arabia where 18 teams already lie in wait.
The Hamza effect has already seen the return of the former 40-year old captain in the opposition dugout, Sunil Chhetri, with the legendary striker making an u-turn on his retirement.
Barring injury or otherwise, both should line up at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Shillong, thus adding spice to an already much-anticipated clash.
With Hamza watching on alongside head coach Javier Cabrera, Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuiyan was under no illusions when asked to rate the two in Wednesday’s media briefing.
Jamal said bluntly, “Sunil has done a tremendous job for his country, but let's be honest, Hamza is a Premier League player.”
To add to that, the Bangladesh Football Federation also signed a title sponsor recently after a long gap of 12 years, along with a kit sponsor.
Hamza exudes calming presence
In front of hundreds of media personnel and guests, Hamza, who scored his first senior Leicester goal against League Cup winners Newcastle United, assured that he is in it for the long haul.
“We'll just have to put in the hard work and we need to respect the process of going to that level. We've got no rush. We've got a lot of time Inshallah. I'll be playing for Bangladesh for a number of years,” said Hamza, a picture of smile and wonder for most parts of the presser.
With a touch of humility, he added, “These players here, like Jamal the captain, they are much more experienced than me in international football. And experience goes a long way. So I'm here to learn from them as well. Inshallah we could be successful and we just want to take one step at a time.”
On his interaction with the national team’s Spanish tactician, Hamza said, “I and the coach have been in contact for a number of weeks. He showed me a number of video clips and I'm very surprised at the team's tactical abilities and the way they have been attacking teams. So I'm hopeful I can add something to the team.”
