The fanaticism produced by the Argentine team in bangladeshwhere thousands of people gathered to celebrate the triumphs of the “Scaloneta”, is now gaining momentum with the arrival of the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar and from the Asian country they dream of having the national team and captain Lionel Messi playing a party on their land.
“We want to bring Messi to Bangladesh”said in dialogue with Télam Sadia Faizunnessaambassador of Bangladesh in Brazil and who acts as diplomatic authority for Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Chile.
“We are going to try to do it, we want to have a game in Bangladesh. Messi is very popular, we love Argentines for football so it would be an honor to have him in our country“, he acknowledged.
The ambassador assured that “there is a historical connection between Bangladesh and Argentina” and stressed that “when we declared independence in 1971, Argentina recognized it very soon.”
“In addition, the Argentine writer Victoria Ocampo had a relationship with the Bangladeshi writer Rabindranath Tagore,” recalled the diplomat and assured that later the figure of Diego Maradona was key to generating this fanaticism of the Asian country for South American football.
“As we were a British colony, football was always very popular. Argentina always stood out, so there started to be more and more interest in the Argentine team and In the 1986 World Cup Maradona became a legendI remember that many people saw that World Cup in Bangladesh,” he portrayed.
“The relationship with Argentina was created based on soccer even though we are 17,000 kilometers away and the preferred sport in Bangladesh is cricket,” he said.
Following the Qatar 2022 World Cup, images of thousands of Bangladeshis going viral on social media watching the matches on a giant screen and passionately celebrating the triumphs of the Argentine team, which will face France on Sunday in search of the third Cup of the World.
“The parties to watch the Argentina matches in Bangladesh are huge. When I was young we used to watch it in our houses but now big events with big screens are organized in various cities. People gather to watch the games live regardless of whether it’s 3 in the morning,” Faizunnesa said.
This link created by soccer between both countries resulted in the Argentine Foreign Ministry announces the project to reopen the Argentine embassy in Bangladesh next yearwhich had been closed since 1978, which will include an official visit in 2023 to finalize the details of the reopening.
“Bangladesh and Argentina have a very good relationship at the United Nations. We are cooperating on many trade issues, human rights and climate change. We have to deepen the relationship, we want to go beyond football,” Faizunnesa said, adding that “we very much want Argentina opens the embassy in Bangladesh”.
“I am in Brasilia and I work for six more countries. In July we had a meeting and we are thinking of reopening the embassy of Bangladesh in Argentina as well,” he asserted.
Capitalize on bigotry
According to data from the Foreign Ministry, during 2021 exports to Bangladesh totaled US$876 million, an all-time high, generating a trade surplus of US$862 million.
The main products exported are soybean oil, flour and pellets from the extraction of soybean oil, corn and wheat, which account for 99% of shipments.
While imports from the Asian country were USD 14 million, mainly clothing.
“Now that football has brought us together, it’s time to capitalize on that relationship in the economy of our countries. We want the relationship to grow based on the knowledge economy”, assured the diplomat and, as her personal wish, she stated that she would like to “bring football coaches to Bangladesh to train our youth”.
Within days of experiencing a new World Cup final, which will pit the national team against the French, the ambassador did not hesitate: “I’m dying because Argentina wins and there will be 170 million Bangladeshis who want Argentina to win“.+
