Bangladesh, a country with more Argentina fans than Messi’s homeland

It is monsoon season in Bangladesh, with rains and stifling temperatures for fans, but no heat can dampen Bangladeshi passion for the Albiceleste. Since the last World Cup, the Asian country has become the main stronghold of support for Lionel Scaloni’s team and its talisman, Leo Messi. It would be difficult to quantify how many Argentina supporters there are in this country of some 177 million inhabitants, but Bangladeshi writer and sports commentator Rajib Hasan tells EL PAÍS that there are some “120 million fans who watch football every four years when the World Cup comes around” and that of those “more than 60%” support Argentina. That is, 72 million people, around 26 million more than the entire population of Argentina itself.

Those same crowds gathered in the early hours of Wednesday to celebrate Argentina’s World Cup debut against Algeria, in which Messi made history with a hat-trick that drew him level with Miroslav Klose as the competition’s all-time top scorer. “It’s a source of pride, but it’s just a statistic. It’s not going to change anything for me. I’ve won everything at club and international level, and whatever comes from now on is a bonus,” the Argentine captain said after the match. A bonus that Bangladeshi supporters experienced as if they were from Argentina’s own Pampas; people like Mohammad Shibly, 32, from Dhaka: “Since the first time I watched soccer, Argentina became my favorite team, and I support them because of Lionel Messi,” he told this newspaper, recalling that he had supported Argentina since Messi’s Barça days.

Or Russell Sazzad, 42, also from Dhaka, who — like a guardian on a wall built with chants, flags, and sweat — recounts how he has been cheering for Argentina since the last World Cup and names Messi and Ángel Di María as his biggest idols: “We were here during the last World Cup and this time we also hope Argentina will win.” Support among Bangladeshis was so strong and unexpected that, after the 2022 World Cup concluded, Argentina reopened its embassy in Dhaka.

A shared colonial history

The relationship between the two nations has its origins in the 1980s, as EL PAÍS journalist Andrés Burgo explains: “Asians embraced Diego Maradona’s goals against England in the Mexico World Cup (in 1986) as a poetic revenge against their former colonizers,” a movement that consolidated in 2022 during the last World Cup, when countless Bangladeshis roared Argentina’s every victory.

Bangladesh, formerly part of the Bengal region during the British Raj, was relegated by London to being just another part — geographically disconnected and with few ties beyond religion (Pakistan is 96% Muslim and Bangladesh 91%) — of the newly formed Pakistan in 1947, until the nation gained independence in 1971.

Argentina, for its part, harbors considerable resentment toward the United Kingdom, not only because of the Falklands War — which is well known and often emphasized — but also because of the British invasions of the early 1800s (in which Argentina was victorious).

Although not everything goes back a century: there are many more fans like Yasin Arafat, an 18-year-old from the Bangladeshi capital, who tells this publication that he has been following the Argentine national team “since he was five,” even though his circumstances didn’t give him much of a choice: his father is a fan, his friends are fans, and supporting Scaloni’s team has become a family tradition.

After all, it isn’t only the mystique of this national team that generates fandom, but its legendary captain, as Hasan notes: “He had nothing left to prove, but he accepted the challenge again at almost 40, and that also inspires people like me, who are past that age; it shows us you can find new goals, redefine your dreams, and challenge yourself again.”

With quiet determination — perhaps in an attempt to emulate his idol’s soft-spoken tone — Hasan says: “[Messi] motivates us. He inspires us. He encourages us.”

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