National Football Championship (Bangladesh)

Following the independence of Bangladesh, the tournament was reintroduced in 1973 as an inter-district national football competition contested by the district teams and government institutions under the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). On 10 January 2020, the BFF decided to revive the National Championship after a gap of 13 years, celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Upon its resumption, it was renamed the Bangabandhu National Football Championship.^[1]

Along with 64 districts football teams, three service teams, six public universities, five education boards, and Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protishthan participate in the tournament. The participant districts have been divided into eight zones named Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Shitalakshya, Brahmaputra, Surma, Chitra and Buriganga. Each zone consists of eight teams, except Surma, which contains seven teams.^[2] Knockout matches in every zone are played on a home and away basis. In the first round, a pair of teams from every zone play each other to decide four winners. In the second round, the four winners play the zonal semifinal. In the third round, the semi-final winners face each other in the zonal final. The champion from each zone qualify for the final round.^[3]

Teams representing education boards, universities, and the services teams—a total of 15 teams—are divided in four groups in Sheba zone.^[4] The teams of this zone play on a round-robin basis. Top two join eight zonal winners in the final round.^[5]