Every four years, Bangladesh, which is usually a cricket-loving country, becomes obsessed with soccer. In Dhaka, the capital, blue-and-white Argentine flags fly proudly from rooftops above shops and apartment buildings. Fans install giant screens in neighborhoods across the city. Universities host watch parties that draw thousands of spectators.
Bangladesh, a country of about 175 million people, has never qualified for the World Cup. But during the tournament, many in this nation 10,000 miles from Argentina adopt the Argentine squad as their own, even as many of Argentina’s own neighbors root against it. At the same time, Bangladesh’s beloved national cricket team, which is competing in a series against Zimbabwe, seems to be going largely unnoticed.
World Cup matches were broadcast live on TV in Bangladesh for the first time in 1982. “That was the moment when Bangladesh fell in love with the World Cup,” said Shamim Chowdhury, a journalist who has covered sports in Bangladesh for over 30 years.
But he believes it was the “individual brilliance” of the Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, in which Argentina defeated West Germany to claim the title, that laid the foundation of Bangladesh’s love of Argentina.
That tournament also carried historical significance. Many in Bangladesh, which is part of a region that was formerly under British colonial rule, also saw Argentina’s defeat of England in that tournament as symbolic, according to historians.
Politics aside, “Bangladeshis love the dribbling that the Latin American footballers do better. Maradona did that; Messi has been doing this,” Mr. Chowdhury said, comparing Latin American and European styles of play. “So the love for Argentina came naturally — for the love of beautiful football.”
Now, after Lionel Messi led Argentina to victory in the 2022 World Cup and helped it advance to this year’s final, “that love has no limit,” he said.
That devotion often manifests in outsize fan displays. During the last two World Cups, Nafiz Mahmud Alif, 21, a student in Dhaka, and his friends created a 200-foot-long Argentine flag, but it failed to stand out among larger flags around the country, he said. So this year, they tried something different.
“We planned for a month to create a big Argentina shirt,” Mr. Alif said. “But it was tough to sew because it’s huge — 40 feet tall and 30 feet wide.”
They hoisted the blue-and-white shirt between two 10-story buildings, drawing the attention of thousands of fans, as well as the Argentine ambassador in Dhaka, who came to see it with members of his delegation, Mr. Alif said. (After Argentina won the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, the country, influenced by its huge soccer fan base in Bangladesh, reopened its embassy in Dhaka, which had been closed by Argentina’s military dictatorship in 1978.)
For many Bangladeshi fans of Argentina, their love of the team is rooted in family. Mr. Alif became an Argentina supporter because of older family members like his father, who was inspired by Maradona’s 1986 performance, he said.
Mainuddin Dewan, 48, was only 8 when Argentina won that World Cup. During this year’s tournament, he bought the team’s shirts for the children in his family, he said.
“Argentina is my childhood love; I cannot bear their defeat,” said Mr. Dewan, who lives in Narayanganj, a city just outside Dhaka. During the round of 16 match against Egypt, Mr. Dewan left a watch party in a field near his house when Argentina conceded a second goal.
“I was fearing that Argentina would be eliminated, losing to Egypt. It’s tough for me to bear this fate, so I left the watch party and went home to watch the match alone in my room,” he said. “I only ran to the watch party again when Argentina equalized and eventually won the match. It was like a dream for me.”
And after Argentina beat England on Wednesday, securing a place in the finals, Mr. Dewan led a victory procession in his village, which he said 400 or 500 people joined.
“I saw at least five more processions marching around, chanting, ‘Messi, Messi,’ and ‘Argentina, Argentina,’” he said. “It was so satisfying for me to see it. We celebrated all night.”
Brazil’s soccer team also has many Bangladeshi supporters, who often share a rivalry with Argentina’s fans. When Argentina conceded a goal in the semifinal against England, the Brazil fans in Mr. Dewan’s neighborhood taunted him, he said. But when Argentina won, they disappeared.
At Daffodil International University in Dhaka, which hosts one of the city’s largest watch parties, Kibria Rafi, 23, an alumnus, said the match against England was tough to watch.
“Argentina was one goal behind for a long part of the match, so we were super anxious,” he said.
But when Enzo Fernández scored the equalizing goal, “I went mad. I forgot that I had a job to do, to record the moment for our Facebook page,” he said, referring to the campus group that hosted the party. “But I entirely forgot that. All the Argentina fans broke into wild celebration. You cannot feel the vibe without witnessing it.”
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