Sports regain momentum under interim government

After one year under the leadership of the interim government headed by Nobel laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh's sports sector has found its rhythm once again.

The past year has witnessed significant changes, both in terms of governance and infrastructure, which have had a positive impact on the country's sporting landscape.

Under the interim administration, significant measures have been taken to rid the sports arena of corruption, which includes innovative approaches and fostering a spirit of adventure.

Youth and Sports Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan's strategic leadership has played a crucial role in the transformation of the sports sector, driving progress and change.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has overseen substantial infrastructural developments, aimed at elevating Bangladesh's sports to new heights. One of the most notable successes has been the launch of the Festival of Youth 2025, an initiative designed to foster unity, cooperation, and self-reliance among the nation's youth.

The festival, which began on December 30 last year under the theme "Esho Desh Bodlai, Prithibi Bodlai" (Let's Change the Country and Change the World), has been extended through December 31, 2025.

According to the Youth and Sports ministry, at least 2.74 million women and young girls took part in 2,931 sports events and cultural activities across the country. Of the total, at least 855 were football matches and these games were held in some of the remotest parts of the country. Never in the history of Bangladesh have so many women taken part in such a huge number of sports events.

The interim government and local authorities in all of the country's more than 500 rural sub-district towns organised the women's sporting events with much fanfare. Hundreds of thousands of spectators watched these matches in a festive atmosphere.

But even more significantly, the record-breaking participation of female athletes and the thousands of spectators who turned out to cheer them on testify to the breadth and depth of support for women's rights in Bangladeshi society in 2025.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has also made massive infrastructural developments in the last one year to take the country's sports forward.

According to the source of National Sports Council (NSC), the sports infrastructural developments included further development of National Stadium in Dhaka ((actual progress of the project 100 percent), upgrading of Kabi Jibananada Das Stadium, Brisal to international standard and development of existing district swimming pool project-1 site (under progress), further development of Gaznavi Stadium in Bhola district construction of indoor stadium and swimming pool (under progress), mini stadium construction project at upazilla level (2nd phase), further development of Shibchar upazilla in Madaripur district Char Fashon upazilla in Bhola mini stadium, construction of swimming pool in Gazipur district headquarters (1st revised project), further development of archery training academy in Tongi, Gazipur and district stadium in Patuakhali (under progress), construction of indoor stadium along with further development Chandpur district stadium and swimming pool and construction of indoor stadium and tennis court in Shariatpur district headquarters (under progress).

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has also plan to build sports hub at eight divisional headquarters across the country for preparing international players and organizing sports competitions, along with promoting the country's sports to the global arena.

Talking to BSS, National Sports Council Secretary Aminul Islam said among the fifty-five federation and associations we have dissolved committees of 48 federations and formed ad-hoc committee. We have also received proposal to march three federations with three other federations and we issued a notification in this regards. The committees of the two federations are under consideration and we'll issue a notification soon.

Besides at the local stage, there are nearly one thousand and one hundred committee of local sports associations (divisional, district, upazilla and women's sports associations), which we all dissolved the committees and we have already formed ad-hoc committee of fifty-seven out of sixty-four districts, he added.

The NSC secretary said: "The country's sports got back pace under the leadership of these ad-hoc committees and the youth actively participated in the Festival of Youth. We can now claim that In the last one year we have been able to restore the stability in sports ... we're confident that the pace and mobility in sports arena will increase further with the cooperation of all."    �"BSS