Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited Dhaka, founded in 1936 at

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 ...

, is one of the oldest and one of the most popular

football clubs A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

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 ...

, with a support base in all parts of the country. The club currently plays in the

Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ প্রিমিয়ার লীগ) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league consisting of seven franchises. The BPL is one of the three professional cricket leagues in ...

History

Members of the Mohammedan Sporting Club Limited of Dhaka in 1952

The clubs journey began in Hazaribagh. Members of the famed Nawab family of Dhaka wanted to establish a local club for the youth. As a result, Muslim Sports Club came into being in 1927. Nine years later, with Khwaja M. Ajmal as its president, it was renamed Mohammedan Sporting Club, after its more renowned predecessor the

Kolkata Mohammedan Mohammedan Sporting Club is an Indian multi-sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Its football team competes in I-League, the second-tier of Indian football, as well as in Calcutta Football League (CFL), the oldest football league in As ...

. Though it was established to create enthusiasm for sports amongst the local Muslim community, the club later broke the race, class and ethnic barrier and became a crowd favorite. In the late 40s, MSC started to flourish with Mohammad Shahjahan at the helm. Shahjahan left Kolkata Mohammedan and came to Bangladesh after the partition. The 1950s was a time for Dhaka Wanderers. They were the top dog in the sporting arena. In 1956, some of their star players and senior officials joined MSC and started restructuring the club. The results were evident as MSC secured their first league title in 1957. The same year they won the Independence Cup, thus ensuring their domestic double. The trophies kept coming over the next two decades. Before independence, Mohammedan also clinched the Dhaka League title in the year of 1959, '61, '63, '66 and '69. It was not easy to find success against teams like Wanderers and

Victoria SC Victoria Sporting Club, commonly known as Victoria SC, is a football club based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1903, the club competes in the Dhaka Senior Division League, the third tier of football in Bangladesh. They were relegated from the B ...

. Yet, Mohammedan did not yield to failure, they pursued their way. Mohammedan won the

Aga Khan Gold Cup The Aga Khan Gold Cup was a tournament played in Dhaka, Bangladesh which invited the top club sides from leading football playing nations of Asia to compete. Many renowned football pundits regard this competition as a predecessor of AFC Champio ...

for the first time in 1959. They repeated the feat twice, in 1964 and 1968. On 11 May 1972, Mohammedan played against Indian club

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Athletic Club is an Indian professional sports club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, its football section is one of the oldest in India and Asia. The club is most notable for its victory over East Yorkshire Regiment ...

under captaincy of

Zakaria Pintoo Zakaria Pintoo (born 1 January 1943) is a Bangladeshi retired professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Pintoo played for the Pakistan football team before independence. He served as the captain of Shadhin Bangla Football Team ...

, which was the first visit of a foreign team in independent Bangladesh.

Dhaka Abahani Abahani Limited Dhaka ( bn, ঢাকা আবাহনী লিমিটেড), also referred as Dhaka Abahani or Abahani Limited, is a Bangladeshi professional football club based in the Dhanmondi area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The club cur ...

adds a new dimension to domestic football in the post-independent era. And it begins a new rivalry involving Dhaka Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan termed

Dhaka Derby The Dhaka Derby is a football rivalry between the Dhaka teams of Abahani and Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past, it is still considered to be the biggest game in the country's domestic football scene. Mohammedan was foun ...

which took no time to spread the passion and madness throughout the country. Abahani won the league in 1974 and 1977 but the decade, however, belonged to Mohammedan as they got the better of their hardcore rival to win the league in 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1980. They were unbeaten in the first division league from 8 September 1985 to 15 March 1990. Mohammedan did not lose a single match in those one thousand six hundred and fifty days winning 63 of them, drawing 12 times and 1 ended up being postponed. They scored 160 and conceded 22 goals. The Black and Whites took the league title three times in a row from 1986 to 1988. The last time Mohammedan won the league was back in 2002 and with all these years gone, they are still the most number of league winners in Bangladesh- 19 times. Mohammedan won the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

ten times, beating Abahani six times in the final. They won their last Federation Cup title back in 2009. Mohammedan also won the most expensive domestic football tournament of the country,

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

twice by taking the inaugural edition in 2009 and then the one in 2013. Their record attendance for a football game is nearly 45,000 which took place in 2009. They had their touch on Independence Cup title three times in 1972, 1991 and 2014 with the latest triumph being their last title in any domestic competition thus far. Dhaka Mohammedan was the most dominating force in continental competitions among Bangladeshi clubs as well. They made it to the

Asian Club Championship The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

(the then

Asian Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

) finals in 1988 thus becoming the first-ever Bangladeshi club to do so. They participated in this tournament a record six times making it to the finals thrice, a record yet to be matched by any South Asian club.

Rivalries

Dhaka Derby

The Dhaka Derby is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

rivalry between Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past. Dhaka Mohammedan and Dhaka Abahani first met each other during 1973 Dhaka League. Before Abahani's arrival, Mohammedan where the most dominant force in the country, and overthrew their previous rivals

Dhaka Wanderers Club Dhaka Wanderers Club ( bn, ঢাকা ওয়ান্ডারার্স ক্লাব) is a football team from Dhaka, Bangladesh. They are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Bangladesh. The Wanderers dominated the domestic ...

, by becoming the team with most league titles won.

Shirt sponsors

Crest and colours

Official logo of Dhaka Mohammedan SC.png, Club crest, with

Bengali alphabet The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet ( bn, বাংলা বর্ণমালা, ''Bangla bôrṇômala'') is the alphabet used to write the Bengali language based on the Bengali-Assamese script, and has historically been used to w ...

Stadium

From the 2019–2020 season the club started playing their matches at the 18,000 capacity

Shaheed Dhirendranath Stadium ''Shaheed'' ( , , ; pa, ਸ਼ਹੀਦ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); ...

. On 7 March 2020, Mohammedan Sporting Club hogging the spotlight with a 1–0 win over defending champions

Bashundhara Kings Bashundhara Kings ( bn, বসুন্ধরা কিংস) is a professional football team based in Bashundhara Residential Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh. They clinched the title of the 2017 Bangladesh Championship League, the second tier of th ...

in their home debut. Nigerian forward Obi Moneke's 25th-minute strike, a superb curling effort from the edge of the box, proving to be enough to split the sides.

Current squad

Dhaka Mohammedan squad for 2022-23 season.

Personnel

Current technical staff

Board of directors

''.''

Team records

Head Coach's record

Honours

League

Dhaka League Dhaka Senior Division Football League, also referred as First Division Football League, is the third tier of football league in Bangladesh. Until 2006, it was the top-tier league of the country. It was established in 1948 as Dhaka League, while ...

**Winners (19): 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988–89, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002

Cup

**Winners (10): 1980*, 1981, 1982*, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2009 * Independence Cup **Winners (3): 1972, 1991, 2014 *

**Winners (2): 2009, 2013 *

National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

**Winners (2): 2001–02, 2005–06

Invitational

The competition is widely regarded as the predecessor of

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

(held for the first time in 1967), since it was the first organized international competition that involved club teams around

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, organized by the football authorities of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

, in collaboration with

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

(AFC). **Winners (3): 1959, 1964*, 1968 *

All Airlines Gold Cup The All Airlines Gold Cup was a domestic football tournament organised by the Indian Football Association The Indian Football Association, abbreviated as IFA, is the organisation that administers association football in the state of West Be ...

**Winners (1): 1999 * Ashis-Jabbar Shield Tournament **Winners (1): 1982 *

Bordoloi Trophy The Bordoloi Trophy, also known as the Bharat Ratna Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy, is a premier annual Indian football tournament held in Guwahati and organized by Guwahati Sports Association (GSA). The tournament was first started in 1952 ...

**Runners-up (1): 1989 *

IFA Shield The IFA Shield is an annual football competition organized by the Indian Football Association. The IFA is the governing body of football in the state of West Bengal, came into existence in 1893. Named after the association, the IFA Shield tourn ...

**Runners-up (1): 1995

Performance in AFC competitions

: 6 Appearances *

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

: Qualifying Round * 1988–89 : Semi Final League * 1989–90 : Qualifying Round * 1990–91 : Quarter-finals *

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

: Group Stage * 1997–98 : First Round :

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an association football competition run by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The competition was started in 1991 as a tournament for all the domestic cup winners from countries affiliated to the AFC. The winne ...

: 4 Appearances * 1990–91 : Second Round * 1992–93 : Intermediate Round * 1993–94 : Second Round * 1996–97 : Second Round :

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

: 1 Appearance *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: Group Stage

Notable players

*The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for ''Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka)''. Asia *

Mohammed Rahmatullah Mohammad Rahmatullah ( Bengali: মোহাম্মদ রহমতুল্লাহ) was an Indian footballer who played as a forward for the India national team and spent most of his career with Calcutta Football League giant Mohammedan ...

(1962–63) *

Abdul Ghafoor ʻAbd al-Ghaffār (ALA-LC romanization of ar, عبد الغفار) is a male Muslim given name, and, in modern usage, surname, built from the Arabic words '' ʻabd'' and '' al-Ghaffār'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to th ...

(1961; 1965–1969) *

Balai Dey Balai Dey ( bn, বলাই দে; born 11 October 1946) is a retired Indian football player who played as a goalkeeper. He is one of the few footballers who represented the two nations, India and Pakistan, in international football. In July ...

(1962; 1963–64) *

Ganesh Thapa Ganesh Thapa ( ne, गणेश थापा) is an ex president of the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA). He was formerly the president of the South Asian Football Federation and the vice president of Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Fam ...

(1981–1986) *

Nasser Hejazi Nasser Hejazi (Persian: ناصر حجازی ''nāser hejāzi''; 14 December 1949 – 23 May 2011), nicknamed "the legendary Iranian goalkeeper", was an Iranian football player and coach who most notably played for Esteghlal (Taj). Considered a ...

(1986–87) * Bijan Taheri (1987–89) * Reza Naalchegar (1987–89) *

Azamat Abduraimov Azamat Abduraimov (born 27 April 1966) is a former Uzbek professional football player, who represented Uzbekistan national football team on 22 occasions between 1992 and 1997. Early years Azamat Abduraimov was born in Tashkent in 1966. His fa ...

(1991–92) Africa *

Emeka Ezeugo Emeka Ezeugo (born 16 December 1965) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He debuted as a professional footballer for Indian club East Bengal FC, has also represented the Nigeria national team in the FIFA Wo ...

(1989–90) *

Yassan Ouatching Yassan Ouatching (born 28 November 1998) is a professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American footbal ...

(2021)

Notes

References

External links

*
archived
* {{Bangladesh Football Premier League Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) Association football clubs established in 1936 Sport in Bangladesh Football clubs in Bangladesh