Bangladeshi-origin Canadian midfielder Shamit Shome has agreed to play for the Men in Red and Green, Bangladesh Football Federation’s vice president Fahad Karim confirmed to media Friday.
Shamit currently plies his trade for Canadian Premier League club Cavalry FC and also has experience of playing in Major League Soccer after his stint at Montreal Impact.
He featured for Canada Under-18, U-20 and U-23 national team from 2015 to 2018.
He was then involved in two matches for the Canada senior national team as he made his international bow in a 2020 friendly.
The 27-year old was born in Canada to Bangladeshi parents and can switch allegiance to Bangladesh, pending FIFA’s approval.
The procedure to obtain Bangladeshi passport will start from Sunday.
Along with the passport, the BFF will need official approval from world football’s governing body FIFA before Shamit can turn out for Bangladesh.
Shamit is the second expatriate footballer in a year who has agreed to play for Bangladesh after England-based Hamza Choudhury.
Bangladeshi-origin Hamza already made his debut in red and green jersey against India in the Asian Cup qualifiers last month.
Earlier, Denmark’s Jamal Bhuiyan and Finland-born Tariq Qazi, both of Bangladeshi origin, donned the red and green jersey.
Bangladesh will play their second Asian Cup qualifier game against Singapore at home on June 10.
