World Cup fever triggers Islamic flag dispute in football-crazy Bangladesh
Key takeaways
- Issued on: 02/07/2026 - 11:47Modified: 02/07/2026 - 11:50
- By: FRANCE 24 Bangladesh football fans decked in the colours of Lionel Messi's Argentina march in Dhaka on June 16, 2026.
- Football is extremely popular in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, with hundreds of thousands of fans supporting mainly Brazil and Argentina.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Fervent support for football giants Argentina and Brazil has sparked a political and religious row in Bangladesh after a hardline preacher called on supporters to take down flags of the South American nations and replace them with Islamic flags in an effort to counter the World Cup fever that has gripped the country.
Issued on: 02/07/2026 - 11:47Modified: 02/07/2026 - 11:50
By: FRANCE 24 Bangladesh football fans decked in the colours of Lionel Messi's Argentina march in Dhaka on June 16, 2026. © Munir Uz Zaman, AFP Supporters of a hardline Bangladeshi preacher have heeded his call to counter fan frenzy around the World Cup by raising Islamic flags across the constitutionally secular country, putting police on alert, the force said Wednesday.