Dhaka - Sports

Sports

Cricket and football are the two most popular sports in Dhaka and across the nation. Teams are fielded in intra-city and national competitions by a large number of schools, colleges and private entities. The Mohammedan Sports Club and Abahani are two of the most famous football and cricket teams, maintaining a fierce rivalry, specially in Bangladesh Premier League (football). Dhaka Metropolis cricket team represents Dhaka in National Cricket League, a region based domestic First-class cricket competition in Bangladesh. In domestic Twenty20 cricket, Dhaka has a Bangladesh Premier League franchise known as Dhaka Gladiators.

Dhaka has the distinction of having hosted the first official Test cricket match of the Pakistan cricket team in 1954 against India. The Bangabandhu National Stadium was formerly the main venue for domestic and international cricket matches, but now exclusively hosts football matches. It was the host for the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup while the Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium hosted 6 matches of the tournament including 2 quarterfinals. The Bangladesh Sports Control Board, responsible for promoting sports activities across the nation is based in Dhaka. Dhaka also has stadiums largely used for domestic events such as the Bangladesh Army Stadium, the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium and the Outer Stadium Ground. The Dhaka University Ground hosts many intercollegiate tournaments.

Dhaka also hosted South Asian Games for three times in 1985, 1993 and 2010. Dhaka is the first city to hold the games three times. The Bangabandhu National Stadium was the main venue for all three editions.