WAPDA Sports Club ( bn, ওয়াপদা স্পোর্টস ক্লাব) is a

multi-sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

based mainly in

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 ...

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 ...

. The club is owned by the

Bangladesh Power Development Board The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) is a government agency operating under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It was created as a public-sector organization to boost ...

. The club was well known for its

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 ...

team which participated in domestic football prior to the turn of the century.

Club name

* 1958–1970: East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (EPWAPDA) * 1971–present: Bangladesh Water and Power Development Authority (BPWAPDA)

History

WAPDA entered the First Division Football League 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 ...

(now

), the Dhaka League in the late 60s as East Pakistan WAPDA. The club mainly consisted of player who were employed at the

(then East Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority). The club also had a wing established in both

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

and

Khulna Khulna ( bn, খুলনা, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of Khulna District and Khulna Division. Khulna's economy is the third-largest in Bangladesh, contributing $53 b ...

, which saw them produce new talents each season. Following the

Independence of Bangladesh Independence of Bangladesh was declared on 26 March 1971, celebrated as Independence Day, from Pakistan. The Independence Day of Bangladesh is celebrated on 26 March when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared the Independence of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh ...

, the club was renamed as Bangladesh WAPDA. During the first leg of the 1973 Dhaka League, WAPDA, led by brothers; Nowsheruzzaman and

Sharifuzzaman Sharifuzzaman ( bn, শরিফুজ্জামান) is a retired a Bangladeshi football player who played as a midfielder. He is a member of the first Bangladesh national football team. Personal life Born in Munshiganj Sardar, East Bengal, ...

, were league leaders before internal conflict saw them eventually finish mid-table. In the same year, the first

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় ফুটবল দল) is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a membe ...

was announced, which included four players from the club – Nowsheruzzaman, Sharifuzzaman,

Dilip Barua Dilip Barua (born 28 February 1949) is a Bangladeshi politician. He is the general secretary of the Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (Marksbadi-Leninbadi) ('Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist)'). In January 2009, Barua was named Minister ...

and Sunil Krishna Dey Chowdhury. WAPDA suffered relegation to the

Dhaka Second Division Football League Dhaka Second Division Football League is the fourth-tier football league in Bangladesh, and the second highest league division in Dhaka. The league was founded in 1948 as the second-tier of the Dhaka League, while Bangladesh were still under the ...

in the 1984 season, and failed to return to the top-flight ever since. In the early 2000s, the club's football department, along with many other of its sports departments, stopped functioning.

Club name

History

References

Further reading