Members of the Mohammedan SC of Dhaka in 1952Headquarter of Mohammedan SC
The clubs journey began in Hazaribagh. Members of the famed Nawab family of Dhaka wanted to establish a local club for the youth. As a result, Muslim Sports Club came into being in 1927. Nine years later, with Khwaja M. Ajmal as its president, it was renamed Mohammedan Sporting Club, after its more renowned predecessor the Kolkata Mohammedan.[5][6][7]
Though it was established to create enthusiasm for sports amongst the local Muslim community, the club later broke the race, class and ethnic barrier and became a crowd favorite.
Mohammedan SC players in 1955
In the late 40s, MSC started to flourish with Mohammad Shahjahan at the helm. Shahjahan left Kolkata Mohammedan and came to Bangladesh after the partition. The 1950s was a time for Dhaka Wanderers. They were the top dog in the sporting arena. In 1956, some of their star players and senior officials joined MSC and started restructuring the club. The results were evident as MSC secured their first league title in 1957. The same year they won the Independence Cup, thus ensuring their domestic double. The trophies kept coming over the next two decades.[8]
Before independence, Mohammedan also clinched the Dhaka League title in the year of 1959, '61, '63, '66 and '69. It was not easy to find success against teams like Dhaka Wanderers and Victoria SC. Yet, Mohammedan did not yield to failure, they pursued their way. Mohammedan won the Aga Khan Gold Cup for the first time in 1959. They repeated the feat twice, in 1964 and 1968.[9]
On 11 May 1972, Mohammedan played against Indian club Mohun Bagan under captaincy of Zakaria Pintoo, which was the first visit of a foreign team in independent Bangladesh.[10]Dhaka Abahani adds a new dimension to domestic football in the post-independent era. And it begins a new rivalry involving Dhaka Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan termed Dhaka Derby which took no time to spread the passion and madness throughout the country. Abahani won the league in 1974 and 1977 but the decade, however, belonged to Mohammedan as they got the better of their hardcore rival to win the league in 1975, 1976, 1978 and 1980.
They were unbeaten in the first division league from 8 September 1985 to 15 March 1990. They played 76 league games during those one thousand six hundred and fifty days winning 66 of them and drawing 10 times. They scored 160 and conceded 24 goals.[11] The Black and Whites took the league title three times in a row from 1986 to 1988.[12] The last time Mohammedan won the league was back in 2002 and with all these years gone, they are still the most number of league winners in Bangladesh- 19 times.
Mohammedan won the Federation Cup ten times, beating Abahani six times in the final. They won their last Federation Cup title back in 2009.[13] Mohammedan also won the most expensive domestic football tournament of the country, Super Cup twice by taking the inaugural edition in 2009 and then the one in 2013. Their record attendance for a football game is nearly 45,000 which took place in 2009.[14]
They had their touch on Independence Cup title three times in 1972, 1991 and 2014 with the latest triumph being their last title in any domestic competition thus far.
Dhaka Mohammedan was the most dominating force in continental competitions among Bangladeshi clubs as well. They made it to the Asian Club Championship (the then Asian Champions League) semi-final round in 1988 thus becoming the first-ever Bangladeshi club to do so.[15] They participated in this tournament a record six times making it to the finals thrice, a record yet to be matched by any South Asian club.[16]
The Dhaka Derby is a football rivalry between Abahani and Dhaka Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past. Dhaka Mohammedan and Dhaka Abahani first met each other during 1973 Dhaka League. Before Abahani's arrival, Mohammedan were the most dominant force in the country, and overthrew their previous rivals Dhaka Wanderers Club, by becoming the team with most league titles won.
From the 2019–2020 season the club started playing their matches at the 18,000 capacity Shaheed Dhirendranath Stadium. On 7 March 2020, Mohammedan Sporting Club hogging the spotlight with a 1–0 win over defending champions Bashundhara Kings in their home debut.
Currently the club is using Mymensingh Stadium as it's home venue.[17]
Current squad
Mohammedan SC in 1936 with its first president Khawaja Ajmal
As of 22 October 2023
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^– Interim
P – Total of played matches
W – Won matches
D – Drawn matches
L – Lost matches
GS – Goal scored
GA – Goals against %W – Percentage of matches won
The players below had senior international cap(s) for their respective countries. Players whose name is listed, represented their countries before or after playing for Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka).
^The competition is widely regarded as the predecessor of AFC Champions League (held for the first time in 1967), since it was the first organized international competition that involved club teams around Asia, organized by the football authorities of East Pakistan, in collaboration with Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
^"দিয়াবাতে খেলতে চান বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় দলে" [Diabate wants to play in the Bangladesh national team]. bd-pratidin.com (in Bengali). Bangladesh Pratidin. 12 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
^Mahmud, Dulal (10 April 2021). "আকাশি-নীলের উত্থান" [The rise of ski-blue]. utpalshuvro.com (in Bengali). Dhaka: Utpal Shuvro. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
Tuhin, Saifur Rahaman (16 February 2023). "ঢাকার মাঠ মাতানো বিদেশি ফুটবলাররা" [Those iconic foreign players during the golden days in Dhaka football]. Durbin24.com (in Bengali). Dhaka. Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
Tuhin, Saifur Rahaman (20 April 2018). "'কোচ বললেন, তোর নাম দিলাম চিতাবাঘ'" ['The coach said, I named you Leopard']. kalerkantho.com (in Bengali). Dhaka: Kaler Kontho Bangladesh. Archived from the original on 9 September 2022. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
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