Dhaka Derby

The Dhaka Derby is a football rivalry between the Dhaka teams of Abahani and Mohammedan, although the rivalry was bigger in the past, it is still considered to be the biggest game in Bangladesh's domestic football scene.[1][2][3][4]

Dhaka derby
LocationDhaka
TeamsAbahani
Mohammedan
First meetingAbahani 2–0 Mohammedan
(1973)
Dhaka League
Latest meetingMohammedan 2–2 Abahani
(23 February 2024)
2023–24 Bangladesh Premier League
Next meetingAbahani v Mohammedan
(29 May 2024)
2023–24 Bangladesh Premier League
StadiumsBangabandhu National Stadium (Both)
Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Stadium (Abahani)
Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan Stadium (Mohammedan)
Statistics
Meetings total36 (from 2007)
Most winsAbahani (15)
All-time recordAbahani: 15
Draw: 13
Mohammedan: 6
Largest victoryMohammedan 4–0 Abahani
(16 July 2019)
2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League
Abahani 4–0 Mohammedan
(4 March 2020)
2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League
Largest goal scoringMohammedan 4–4 Abahani
(30 May 2022)
2022–23 Federation Cup
Traditional kit of Dhaka Abahani
Traditional kit of Dhaka Mohammedan

Mohammedan was founded in 1936,[5] and Abahani was founded in 1972. Bangladesh football's popularity grew based on this two Dhaka clubs – Mohammedan and Abahani. These are the two clubs that have divided the country's fans into two camps over the course of a fierce rivalry of 47-odd years.[6] These two clubs met several times in a year in competitions like the Federation Cup, Bangladesh Premier League, Independence Cup.

History

1970s–1990s

The two sides first met in 1973 in Dhaka League.On that match Abahani player Amalesh Sen scored the first goal in the history of Dhaka derby.Salahuddin scored the second goal for Abahani and the Abahani won that match by 2–0 and caused an upset over the mighty Black and Whites.[7]

In 1978, Bangladesh participated in Asian Games for the first time. Monwar Hossain Nannu, being the senior most player in the squad, was originally nominated as the captain for the Bangkok event. But, then the Federation changed their decision and goalkeeper Shahidur Rahman Shantoo from MSC was appointed the new captain. 7 Abahani players including Nannu withdrew from the team in protest.The much depleted Bangladesh team struggled in the tournament losing 1–0 to Malaysia and 3–0 to India. Following this incident, the federation generally tried to pick national team captain outside the big two Dhaka teams for the next few years. [8][9]

The 1980s was the golden era of club football in Dhaka. Any match involving Mohammedan or Abahani would draw huge crowd at the Dhaka stadium. The rivalry between the two rivals was at its peak in this era.[10]Abahani won a hat-trick of titles in 1983, 1984 & 1985 and Mohammedan made a record of winning an unbeaten hat-trick of titles in 1986, 1987 & 1988-89.[11] The rivalry reached its peak as fans always wanted their favorite team to win and they also contested in foreign tournaments and were the best sides.[12][13]

2000s–2010

Since the start of the Bangladesh Premier League in 2007, the rivalry has lost majority of its past fame.[14][15]

Head-to-head

Statistics

Following statistics are from matches since 2007 B.League.

CompetitionAbahani winsDrawsMohammedan winsAbahani goalsMohammedan goals
League141254024
Federation Cup11186
Total151364830

Matches

Following is the list of matches since 2007 B.League.

#SeasonDateCompetitionStadiumHome TeamResultAway TeamH2H
1200716 March 2007B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–1Abahani+1
216 June 2007Kamalpur StadiumAbahani0–0Mohammedan+1
32008–0924 November 2008B.LeagueKamalpur StadiumAbahani2–2Mohammedan+1
424 January 2009Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan1–2Abahani+2
52009–1019 March 2010B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–0Abahani+2
62 June 2010Kamalpur StadiumAbahani1–2Mohammedan+1
72010–1113 March 2011B.LeagueKamalpur StadiumAbahani1–0Mohammedan+2
824 June 2011Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–0Abahani+2
9201217 February 2012B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani1–1Mohammedan+2
1022 May 2012Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan2–0Abahani+1
112012–1328 December 2012B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani2–0Mohammedan+2
127 April 2013Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan1–1Abahani+2
132013–1419 January 2014B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–1Abahani+3
144 May 2014Bangabandhu StadiumAbahani0–1Mohammedan+2
1530 June 2014Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan1–1Abahani+2
162014–1520 May 2015B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani0–1Mohammedan+1
1716 August 2015Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–0Abahani+1
18201621 September 2016B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–3Abahani+2
196 December 2016Gopalganj StadiumAbahani2–1Mohammedan+3
202017–187 August 2017B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani1–0Mohammedan+4
2122 November 2017Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan0–2Abahani+5
222018–1928 February 2019B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani3–0Mohammedan+6
2316 July 2019Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedan4–0Abahani+5
242019–204 March 2020B.LeagueBangabandhu StadiumAbahani4–0Mohammedan+6
2525 June 2020Bangabandhu StadiumMohammedanN/A[a]Abahani+6
262020–214 March 2020Federation CupBangabandhu StadiumAbahani3–0Mohammedan+7
2728 January 2021B.LeagueComilla StadiumMohammedan2–2Abahani+7
2827 June 2021Bangabandhu StadiumAbahani1–1Mohammedan+7
292021–2223 February 2022B.LeagueSylhet District StadiumAbahani1–0Mohammedan+8
3022 June 2022Comilla StadiumMohammedan2–4Abahani+9
312022–2327 January 2023B.LeagueComilla StadiumAbahani2–0Mohammedan+10
3226 May 2022Comilla StadiumMohammedan1–1Abahani+11
3330 May 2022Federation CupComilla StadiumMohammedan4–4[b]Abahani+11
342023–2413 February 2024Federation CupSheikh Fazlul Haque Mani StadiumAbahani1–2Mohammedan+10
3523 February 2024B.LeagueComilla StadiumAbahani2–2Mohammedan+10
3629 May 2024Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani StadiumAbahaniMohammedan+10

Statistics

All players in bold are still active in the derby.

All-time top goalscorers

NationPlayerClub(s)LeagueYears
Souleymane DiabateDhaka Mohammedan112019–
Kervens BelfortDhaka Abahani42018–2021
Emeka Christian JbeDhaka Abahani3
Daniel ColindresDhaka Abahani32021–2023

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDate
Souleymane DiabateDhaka MohammedanDhaka Abahani4–4 (H)[16]30 May 2023

Records

Friendly matches are not included in the following records unless otherwise noted.

Notable Matches

  • Abahani 2–0 Mohammedan (1973)

This was the first ever Dhaka derby played in Dhaka League. Amalesh Sen and Salahuddin scored the first and second goals for Abahani, defeating Mohammedan2–0.

  • Abahani 0–0 Mohammedan (16 June 2007)

This was the first ever derby match in the Bangladesh Premier League. The match took place in Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka on 16 June 2007, which ended in a 0–0 draw.

  • Mohammedan 4–4 Abahani (30 May 2023)

This was the final of 2022–23 Federation Cup, it ended 3–3 in the normal time, Diabate scored hat-trick for Mohammedan while Fahim, Colindres and Ogbugh scored for Abahani respectively. In additional time, Diabate scored his 4th goal in the 105th minute to give Mohammedan the lead. Mia scored in 118th minute equalizer to take the match into penalty shoot-out, where Mohammedan won 4–2 after Augusto and Colindres failed to convert their spot-kicks after Emon failed to score his penalty for Mohammedan.

Honours

Major Honours (National)

This following table includes only those titles recognised and organised by the BFF and AFC.[17][18]

CompetitionMohammedanAbahani
Dhaka League1911
Federation Cup1112
Super Cup21
Bangladesh Premier Football League06
Independence Cup32
National Football League21
Liberation Cup01
DMFA Cup31
BTC Club Cup01
Ma-Moni Gold cup10
Total4036

General information

Dhaka AbahaniMohammedan SC
First established nameAbahani Krira ChakraMohammedan Sporting Club Limited Dhaka
Founding year19721936
StadiumsBangabandhu National Stadium, Sylhet District Stadium, Rafiq Uddin Bhuiyan StadiumBangabandhu National Stadium, Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Stadium
Capacity36,000, 15,000, 15,00036,000, 5,000
Number of seasons in Bangladesh Premier League15 (never been relegated)15 (never been relegated)
AFC Club Ranking194326
World club ranking[19]14981793

References