Jamal’s 100th match in red and green, four bullet wounds hidden from view and a fairytale story

Sports Desk

An unwavering love for football and country has brought Jamal Bhuiyan to the unique heights of his 100th international match. However, the 36-year-old captain’s red-and-green jersey is shrouded in a terrible tragedy from two decades ago.

Growing up in Copenhagen, Denmark, Jamal was shot four times in the back in a random shooting near his school. He was in a coma for three days and spent months in the hospital recovering. When he woke up from his coma, he asked the nurse to send a message to the coach that he would not be at the club’s next match. He was playing for FC Copenhagen’s age group at the time. It was only when he saw the newspaper the nurse gave him that he realized how big an accident it had been.

Jamal, who returned from that death pit, is today the most loyal footballer in Bangladesh. This midfielder, who has enriched his career by playing for clubs in Denmark, Bangladesh, India and Argentina, has clearly stated that he will continue to fulfill his responsibility of representing the country until his body allows it. Jamal said, ‘It is special to get a place in the national team of 23 out of 180 million people in Bangladesh. As time goes by, I am enjoying the game and the country more than before.’

Behind the player Jamal, he is also just a football fan. Like ordinary Bangladeshis, he has been a blind supporter of Brazil since childhood. He recently returned from a trip to the United States and enjoyed six or seven matches of the FIFA World Cup sitting in the gallery.

Bangladesh is going to face a packed gallery in Jakarta in the FIFA Asian Cup. Although they are behind hosts Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the rankings, they are looking forward to snatching three-four points by fighting.

However, like the fans, this captain wants to see the Bangladesh team on the world stage one day. Jamal hopes that the madness in Dhaka city will take shape and one day the red-green flag will take the field in the World Cup.