With a sweet memory of beating the Maldives 3-1 in the last SAFF Championship in Bengaluru last June, Bangladesh will play the Maldives again in a do or die Asian Qualification Round -1 match of the FIFA World Cup' 2026 on Tuesday.
Bangladesh's most vital home match with the Maldives will kick-off at 5:45 pm Bangladesh time on Tuesday at the Bashundhara Kings Arena in the capital.
T-Sports and News 24 will telecast the match live from Bashundhara Kings Arena.
A dramatic goal by substitute booter M Saad Uddin in added time (90+2 minute) helped Bangladesh to stay in the FIFA World Cup race after playing 1- 1 draw with hosts Maldives in their Asian preliminary round away match at the National Stadium in Male last Thursday.
Bangladesh badly needs a win against the Maldives in their home match on Tuesday, not only to qualify for the 2nd round group stage of the FIFA World Cup'2026, but also to avoid a possible ban on them to play the FIFA/AFC international matches for about one year.
Earlier, Bangladesh were also deprived of playing international football matches for one and half year after losing to Bhutan by 1-3 goals in their return-leg play-off match of the AFC Asian Cup in Thimphu in 2016.
Read: FIFA World Cup: Saad Uddin guides Bangladesh to stay in race playing 1-1 draw with Maldives
In case of a draw in stipulated 90-minute on Tuesday, the fate of the match will be decided by 30-minute extra time and finally in the tie breaker.
The winners of the two-match series, will earn the rights to play in the six-match home and away basis Group I matches of the World Cup's Asian qualifiers with stronger Australia, Lebanon and Palestine.
In a pre-match press conference at the Bashundhara Kings Arena on Monday, the Head Coach of Bangladesh team Javier Fernandez Cabrera and Bangladesh captain Jamal expressed their determination to win the match displaying a good football on home soil.
The Maldives Head Coach Ali Suzain and captain Aisam Ibrahim also expressed their optimism to beat the hosts Bangladesh.
Earlier, Bangladesh and Maldives faced each other on 17 times since 1984 where Bangladesh won seven matches against the Maldives six win. The rest four matches ended in draw.
However, the recent performance of Bangladesh is encouraging as they won two matches in the last four meetings against the Maldives since 2021, featuring a 3-1 victory in the SAFF Championship held in the Indian city of Bengaluru last June.
Read: FIFA World Cup: Bangladesh to play Maldives in qualification match on Thursday
Bangladesh, which had to play their away match with the Maldives without three suspended key booters--number one goal keeper Anisur Rahman Zico, reliable defender Topu Barman and promising striker Shekh Morsalin, this time also ignored Shekh Morsalin in Tuesday's squad, despite his club Bashundhara Kings withdrew his temporary suspension recently.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Football Federation has announced the three categories of tickets for the match which will be available at Motijheel and Bashundhara residential area branches of Premier Bank Limited on Tuesday.
Rate of tickets are: VIP Gallery - TK 500, Category 1 -Tk 200 and Category 2 -Tk 100 each.
Read more: Bangladesh team in Maldives to play qualification for FIFA World Cup 2026