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 A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

between the

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 ...

teams of Abahani and

Mohammedan ''Mohammedan'' (also spelled ''Muhammadan'', ''Mahommedan'', ''Mahomedan'' or ''Mahometan'') is a term for a follower of Muhammad, the Islamic prophet. It is used as both a noun and an adjective, meaning belonging or relating to, either Muham ...

, although the rivalry was bigger in the past, it is still considered to be the biggest game in the country's domestic football scene.

was founded in 1936, and Abahani was founded in 1972.Bangladesh football's popularity grew based on this two Dhaka clubs – Mohammedan and Abahani. These are the two clubs that have divided the country's fans into two camps over the course of a fierce rivalry of 47-odd years. These two clubs met several times in a year in competitions like 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 ...

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 ...

, Independence Cup.

History

1970s–1990s

The two sides first met in 1973 in

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 ...

.On that match Abahani player Amalesh Sen scored the first goal in the history of Dhaka derby. Salahuddin scored the second goal for Abahani and the Abahani won that match by 2–0 and caused an upset over the mighty Black and Whites. In 1978,

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 ...

participated in

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

for the first time.

Monwar Hossain Nannu Monwar Hossain Nannu (27 August 1948 – 16 February 2008) was a Bangladeshi professional football player during the 1970s and early 1980s. Initially, He played as an attacking midfielder for Abahani Limited Dhaka in Dhaka League. Following an i ...

, being the senior most player in the squad, was originally nominated as the captain for the

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

event. But, then the Federation changed their decision and goalkeeper

Shahidur Rahman Shantoo Shahidur Rahman Chowdhury ( bn, শহীদুর রহমান চৌধুরী; born 17 November 1947), known by his nickname Shantoo, is a former Bangladeshi football player and manager. Club career In 1966, after giving his SSC exami ...

from MSC was appointed the new captain. 7 Abahani players including Nannu withdrew from the team in protest. The much depleted

team struggled in the tournament losing 1–0 to

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

and 3–0 to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Following this incident, the federation generally tried to pick national team captain outside the big two

teams for the next few years. The 1980s was the golden era of club football in Dhaka. Any match involving Mohammedan or Abahani would draw huge crowd at the Dhaka stadium. The rivalry between the two rivals was at its peak in this era. Abahani won a hat-trick of titles in 1983, 1984 & 1985 and Mohammedan made a record of winning an unbeaten hat-trick of titles in 1986, 1987 & 1988-89. The rivalry reached its peak as fans always wanted their favorite team to win and they also contested in foreign tournaments and were the best sides.

2000s–2010

Since the start of the

in 2007, the rivalry has lost majority of its past fame.

Colours

Statistics

Trophy counts of and

Major Honours (National) This following table includes only those titles recognised and organised by the BFF and AFC.

References

External links

{{Dhaka Mohammedan SC (Dhaka) Abahani Limited Dhaka Association football rivalries Football in Bangladesh Sport in Dhaka