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Mohammedan Sporting Club finished second in three competitions this season. The traditional Black and White outfits emerged runners-up in the Bangladesh Premier League for the first time since 2009 and also ended second in two club competitions—the Federation Cup and the Independence Cup.

Mohammedan have long been shadowed by arch-rivals Abahani Limited and modern powerhouse Bashundhara Kings, and its reputation had been tarnished by the casino scandal in 2019, reducing it to a mid-level club from formerly being the country’s football powerhouse.

But it all changed when former national team captain and forward Alfaz Ahmed was given the charge of the club in the middle of the last season, which worked like magic as under him the club broke its 14-year trophy drought by lifting the Federation Cup with a win over Abahani in the final.

And in his first full season in charge with the club, Alfaz guided Mohammedan to three second place finishes. But how the Black and Whites got their colour back?  Alfaz feels that the bonding among the players, coaching staff, and team management is the key to their success.

‘I am happy that Mohammedan fans have something to cheer about after I took over the job. Actually, the unity among the players, their bonding with the coaching staff, the mutual relationship among the team management and club administration, and help from the sponsors are the keys to our recent success,’ Alfaz told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ·.

Despite his achievements within a short span of time, Alfaz rued not winning a title this season, and for that he blamed poor refereeing in the Fed Cup and Independence Cup finals.

‘Finishing runners-up is just a consolation; it does not justify Mohammedan’s pride. We should at least win one title. But we were unlucky as we became the victims of bad refereeing in two-tournament finals,’ he said.

The coach considered that the big challenge for him when he took over the club’s job in March 2023 was to install the confidence among his players that if they could give their best, they could beat the stronger opponents.

‘There will always be big challenges when you have opponents like Bashundhara Kings and Abahani. The big challenge for me was to boost up the mentality and confidence level among the players. If we could not do that, you know, the football fraternity would not call it the renaissance of Mohammedan,’ he said.

Alfaz hoped that they would more or less keep the same team next season and try to win all the competitions despite lacking the financial strength of Kings.

‘Now that my responsibilities have increased more than before, we have to work harder and keep this team spirit to go further. As we are not financially sound like Bashundhara to sign star players. We will try to keep the same team. And we have our own plans to succeed in the forthcoming season.’

Team manager Imtiaz Ahmed Nakib echoed Alfaz and said, ‘We almost lost hopes after the casino scandal, thanks to the sponsors and all the staff, including former English coach Sean Lane, who made the foundation of this team’s success.’

‘Discipline, providing facilities, regular payments, good team bonding, dedication, and honesty worked in the back of our success end, and we have to maintain it to go further,’ said Nakib.

Forward Jafar Iqbal, who has been with Mohammedan since 2020, believed that the togetherness among these players in the last four years, helped to improve their performance.

‘Most of the players in our team have been together for four years, and that helped building up a good bonding among us. We never think who our opponents are. We only think we have to perform well,’ said Jafar.