We have progressed a lot: Jamal

Bangladesh captain Jamal Bhuyan said that the facilities in the country's football have changed for the better in the span of his national team career.

"When I first came [to the national team] football was very low down, it took a couple of years to turn it around," he said. "The facilities were non-existent – you cannot imagine how it was in the beginning," FIFA quoted Jamal in a report published on its website on Wednesday.

"But now, we're slowly getting proper facilities and the players are taken care of. We'd never had video sessions or proper meetings and stuff like that. We have progressed a lot," he added.

In the conversation with FIFA, the Denmark-born booter also spoke about how he joined the Bangladesh football team.

"I think my story is different to other player's stories. I had an accident, I was shot four times. When you're in a hospital bed for three to four months, in the same bed, all you think about is getting better again and being obsessed about becoming a footballer.

"When I came back I had a new coach and he told me to focus on my studies instead of football. I was one of the best in my team. I thought, 'I'm up to their level, so why can't I come back?'" Jamal said.

After returning to football in Denmark's lower divisions, Jamal received a call from the Bangladesh Football Federation, asking him to represent the nation of his parents' birth. He took the opportunity in his stride.

"I used to visit [Bangladesh] when I was very small, and my parents would tell stories about it. I was inspired by those and I think that's one of the main reasons why I chose to play for Bangladesh.

"I could have just played in Denmark, my family were doing great, it's not like we lacked any money anymore. But I was thinking of this as a challenge; there's 180 million people [in Bangladesh], if I can make a change for this country then it would be good for myself and it would be good for football in Bangladesh."