The National Football Championship is a semi-professional
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
tournament in
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, contested by
districts and government institutions of the country.
During the seasons ranging from 2000 to 2006, the wide-open national cup tournament was played by club champions from different districts (Chittagong, Rajshahi, Barishal and Syhlet) along with the top three teams of each season from the country's top division at the time, the
Dhaka Premier Division League (Dhaka League).
In 2006, the championship was folded, as the Dhaka Premier Division League was replaced by the country's first professional top-tier national league, the
Bangladesh Premier League. In 2020, it was rebranded with a new format and resumed after 13 years as a regional tournament.
History
2000–2006
In 2000, the
Bangladesh Football Federation established the National Football Championship (NFC), which was played alongside the country's top-tier at the time, the
Dhaka Premier Division League (Dhaka League). The championship was introduced in order for different district champions to get a better platform, as the top-teier league only featured clubs from
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city i ...
. The championship was considered to be the club version of the Sher-e-Bangla Cup (inter-district tournament).
The tournament, included the top 3 finishing teams from each Dhaka Premier Division League season, along with district league champions of
Chittagong,
Rajshahi
Rajshahi ( bn, রাজশাহী, ) is a metropolitan city and a major urban, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous division and district. Located on the north bank of the P ...
, and the winners of a playoff between the champions of
Sylhet and
Barisal
Barisal ( or ; bn, বরিশাল, ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal Di ...
. From the
2003 season, the winners of the competition were given a spot in the group-stages of the
AFC Cup alongside the winners of the Dhaka Premier Division League.
From 2005 to 2007, the Dhaka Premier Division League was not held, which meant the National Football Championship was the only functioning competition which had the country's top clubs participate, other than the domestic club competitions.
In 2007, the
Bangladesh Premier League replaced the
Dhaka Premier Division League as the country's top-tier. This marked the beginning of Bangladesh's first professional football league, and also the first wide open national league, meaning a National Football Championship was no longer required.
Revival (2020–present)
On 10 January 2020, the
Bangladesh Football Federation revived the National Football Championship after a gap of 13 years, celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The reintroduced National Football Championship will not include football clubs, instead district and institution football teams will be allowed to participate in the competition. It is now considered to be the replacement for the Sher-e-Bangla Cup.
Format
Along with 64 districts football teams three service teams, six public universities, five education boards, and
Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan will participate in the tournament. The participants
districts have been divided in eight zones named Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Shitalakshya, Brahmaputra, Surma, Chitra and Buriganga. Each zone consists eight teams except Surma, which contains seven teams. There will be knockout matches in every zone which will be played on home and away basis. In first round, a pair of teams of every zone will play each other which will decide four winners. In second round, that four winners in each zone will play zonal semifinal. In third round, the semi-final winners will face each other in zonal final. The champion from each zone will qualify for the final round.
Teams representing education boards, universities & the services teams—a total of 15 teams—are divided in four groups in Sheba zone. The teams of this zone will play on
round-robin basis. Champion and runners-up of Sheba zone will join eight zonal champions in the final round.
Sponsorship
Nitol-Tata Group was the title sponsor of this competition from 2001 to 2005.
For sponsorship reason, the competition was also known as Nitol-Tata National Football League.
Overview
2000–2006
Note: Winners of the competition when clubs participated.
2020–present
Note: Winners of the competition since districts and institutes participate.
Winners
References
{{Bangladesh football seasons
Football cup competitions in Bangladesh