'I also feel like..' - Hamza Choudhry encourages Bangladesh footballers to play for national team

After joining Leicester City, midfielder Hamza Choudhury was granted FIFA clearance to play for Bangladesh at the international level. One such player is 20-year-old amateur football player Jayan Ahmed, who met with Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) technical director Saiful Bari Titu on Thursday to discuss his desire to play for Bangladesh in the future.

 Jayan is from a footballing family; his father, Sharif Ahmed, was a standout player at Eskaton Sabuj Sangha in the 1990s first division league, and he is currently making progress in university football in the USA. "Former footballer Sharif, a contemporary of [former Bangladesh midfielder] Arman Mia, visited me with his son, who expressed his aspirations to play for Bangladesh," Titu said, adding that Jayan could potentially be considered for the U-23 team. "I also feel like it's something that I wanted to do some more exposure for Bangladesh on the footballing stage."

For Bangladesh, however, the practice of foreign football players attempting to play for the national team is not new. Similar incidents happened in 2008 while Edson Silva Dido was head coach. Notable additions throughout the years have been Rahbar Khan, who played a few games under English coach Jamie Day, and Jamal Bhuiyan and Tariq Raihan Kazi, who later became regular fixtures for the Men in Red and Green.

Son of top-tier cricketer Halim Shah, Syed Shah Quazem Kirmane last made his debut for Bangladesh in a World Cup qualifying match against Lebanon earlier this year. Kirmane returned to Bangladesh after spending his formative years in Canada. Currently, the midfielder is a member of Police FC.

Liverpool beat 3-1 Leicester City on Boxing Day

With their 3-1 victory over struggling Leicester on Thursday, the Premier League championship favourites overcame a scare thanks to Curtis Jones, who put Liverpool seven points clear at the top of the standings. Jordan Ayew's early goal at Anfield stunned Arne Slot's team, but Cody Gakpo from the leaders restored their composure to equalise shortly before halftime. 

Soon after halftime, England midfielder Jones scored the second goal to record his 100th appearance in the top tier. Liverpool has won 11 of their past 13 games across all competitions thanks to Mohamed Salah's 19th goal of the season.