Football or Soccer is one of the top sports in the world. However, In Bangladesh, it is losing its appeal due to the wide acceptance of cricket. Bangladesh has passed its golden era of football in the 90s. Nowadays, young generations prefer cricket over football.

Although, there are some football enthusiasts who love football from the bottom of their hearts and trying to prove themselves. For instance, Tahseen Alam Priyo, the first Bangladeshi teenager, has signed for the Spanish football academy ‘FC Malaga City Academy in Malaga.’

With dedication and hard work, anyone can shed light on their football career. But one need starts with a small step to go further. We will discuss the ways to become a professional footballer in Bangladesh.

The basic preparation to become a professional footballer in Bangladesh

Before joining the academy or school, a potential should understand the rules and other stuff to get-go. Let’s see the basic things a player should know.

Understanding the Football

Understanding the basic rules and regulation is mandatory to deep dive into football. A player can understand the rules and how to play football via book or the internet. Sometimes it is hard to find the proper book, but with the availability of the internet, understanding football should not be an uphill battle.

You will just need to know to search on the internet. Anyone can search for the basics of football, understanding football, how to play football, etc. Further, parents can do that to teach their children.

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Knowing the sports inside out is the first step forward with the learning process.

Devote to the football

To become a professional football player, a love for football and devotion is a must. Only a passion can push someone through the challenging and negative moments. Moreover, the international football market is very competitive, and any Bangladeshi player should target moving to the international level.

Image: 35-man-national-team-camp-at-BKSP-from-Feb-13,-2018

Prepare both mentally and physically

There is no alternative to making yourself prepare both mentally and physically. For that, one needs to get trained every day or get trained as much as possible slowly and steadily. Also, keep your mind focused on playing; that will help to prepare mentally. Besides, the everyday train will help to build the physic.

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Start playing at a young age

Passion should be grown from a young age. So, parents can play a major role in that, as children cannot focus at a young age. Start playing between the age of 5 and 15 will be a perfect age to start.

Patience

Patience is necessary as success will not come overnight. Besides, getting used to failure is highly essential. There will be ups and downs, which is very common in football. Hence, patience can lead the player to ultimate success.

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Work on skills

This is the most important part of becoming a professional footballer. A footballer must need to earn some skill on a specific or multiple parts of the football. Skill is essential to prove the world. Regular practice and meeting the challenges can boost skill development.

Besides, a player can assess himself or herself to understand the situation and strive to be top in your level.

Apart from the playing skills, communication skills are also necessary. Soccer or Football is a team game¸, so proper synchronization with the team is necessary. Good communication skill helps someone to get fit with any team at any time.

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Get in shape

A standard fitness level helps to boost performance. Regular exercise, a healthy diet, and proper sleep are highly necessary to get in shape. Besides, playing carefully and avoiding injuries is also important to become fit and stay fit.

Now that a player understands everything and stays in shape, the next step is to join any academy or training camp to sharpen everything and face the real competition.

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Image: Football-in-Bangladesh-in-1990s

Football academy and training camp in Bangladesh

The range of football in Bangladesh is very small, but we have numerous government and private training academies. Two Bangladeshi organizations are mainly famous for providing training in Bangladesh, one is The Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan(BKSP), and the other one is Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). However, BKSP is famously known for its training facilities for football, which has built many football players in Bangladesh.

Let’s learn more about both BKSP and BFF.

Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP)

BKSP is the only education center for sports in Bangladesh. Including football, 17 other sports are being taught here. The main center is located in Savar in Dhaka. However, the organization has regional centers in Chittagong, Khulna, Barisal, Sylhet, and Dinajpur. BKSP was established in 1986.

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BKSP continues its educational activities up to Higher Secondary School. But in some cases, BKSP also takes an application from the graduate level and diploma course holders. However, most of the students take admission when they are in class seven. Although BKSP requires a specific age, height to get admitted, these can relax for the specially qualified candidates.

BKSP sometimes conducts talent hunt activities across the country, which can sort out the best players from all over the country. So, a potential footballer can join the talent hunt program to become a professional footballer.

These players are again given the opportunity to be admitted to BKSP after completing various types of training.

Image: BKSP Advertisement

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Bangladesh Football Federation

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) also does their part by organizing football training camps and talent hunt competitions to find potential footballer. BFF is basically responsible for training the coaches, and they offer different courses for the football coaches.

Other training centers

There are many football clubs all over Bangladesh, which arrange to trade for footballers. Besides, some football enthusiasts support trading to build players locally, which eventually helps the players to become professional.

Conclusion

This extensive guide will help anyone to top become a professional footballer in Bangladesh. Yet, a guideline won’t help if the learner does not have any dedication.

So, a proper guideline with diligence will surely make anyone a pro footballer regardless of the location.

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