No team, but cup rivalry still rife in Bangladesh

DESPITE the fact that its team has never qualified for the World Cup, football fans in Bangladesh are adopting other country’s teams, stoking bitter rivalries.

Last week, rival supporters of Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Brazil’s Neymar fought with machetes in the town of Bandar. One man and his son were critically wounded in the incident, according to police reports.

The South Asian country is currently awash with flags and football strips. In Dhaka’s Magura district one tailor has made a 4ft German flag to hang above his shop.

Even the rickshaws are painted with their driver’s favourite team colours.

It is not the first time World Cup fever has spilt over into violence. In 2014, in Hatibanda, 18-year-old Milon Hossain was killed when a fight broke out between Argentina and Brazil fans, and there were riots in 2010 when power cuts disrupted television coverage.