Bangladesh

Bangladesh's football federation was set up in July 1972, and a year later the side was in Kuala Lumpur for the Merdeka Cup, where it drew 2–2 with Thailand in its first official international. Membership of the Asian Football Confederation came in 1973 and of FIFA in 1976. The players carried the red and green of the national flag, which gave the side its second name, Lal-Sabuj, next to the better-known Tigers of Bengal.

Silver at the South Asian Games came in 1984, 1985, 1989 and 1995, and the side finished second in the SAFF Championship twice. Kazi Salahuddin scored Bangladesh's first goal at the AFC Asian Cup in 1980, though the team finished bottom of its group. He was also the first Bangladeshi to play professionally abroad.

The first gold came in Kathmandu in 1999, at the South Asian Games. Alfaz Ahmed played in that side and again in 2003, when Bangladesh won the SAFF Championship at home by beating India 2–1 in the final. A FIFA suspension from 2001 to 2010 cut across the decade that followed, and the team has never reached a World Cup finals.

Thomas Dooley took over as head coach in May 2026, replacing Javier Cabrera. He works out of the National Stadium in Dhaka, which holds 22,400 after renovations finished in 2023.

India is the opponent that matters most. The two countries share a language and a culture across Bengal, and the fixture is sometimes called the Bengal Derby. The 2003 final was played against them, in front of a home crowd.