District Stadium, Chittagong (; also known as MA Aziz Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

, Bangladesh. The stadium currently operated by the

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn'') is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, ...

, predominantly hosts

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

matches and has previously been used by the

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team () is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 1973 and of FIFA sin ...

. Its total capacity is 30,000. On a historical note, it was used as headquarters during the 1971 Independence War. The stadium serves as the main football venue of Chittagong as the main cricket venue of the port city has been shifted to the Bir Shrestho Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman Cricket Stadium. It is the home venue of Chittagong Abahani in

Bangladesh Premier League Bangladesh Premier League (), also known as Dutch-Bangla Bank BPL for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Bangladesh organised by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB). It was formed in 2011 by the BCB, after the su ...

. The stadium also hosts the

Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup (), also known as Sheikh Kamal Gold Cup, is a biennial international club association football, football tournament held in Bangladesh. The inaugural edition took place in 2015. It is hosted by the Chittagong Ab ...

, the country’s only international club football tournament.

History

On 1 January 1955 Indian team led by

Vinoo Mankad Mulvantrai Himmatlal "Vinoo" Mankad (; 12 April 1917 – 21 August 1978) was a former Captain of Indian cricket team and appeared in 44 Test matches for India between 1946 and 1959. He was best known for his world record setting opening partn ...

came to play in the newly built stadium. Their opponents were East Pakistan Sports Federation. Then the stadium was called Niaz Stadium, after the name of District Administrator of that time who helped to build it. Then the name of the mountain covered area was Jongli Polton. Later it was changed. After the Mankad's team the stadium welcomed Donald Carr of MCC. MCC also came once more after the war of liberation. In 1976–77 the name of the stadium was changed to ''Chattagram Jilla Krira Porishod'' (Chittagong District Sports Organization) stadium. It was under the PG of that district.

The stadium became the centre of Chittagong's sports over the years. In 1957–58 Chittagong Commerce College met Jogonnath College at the final of the Inter College Cricket. Chittagong team was runners up. At the outer part of the stadium Star Jubo and Star Summer tournaments were also held.

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

also came to play. In the 1980s cricket started to be influenced by Asgar, Abedin and Ispahani family. Many of the

National Team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

cricketers like Minhajul Abedin, Akram Khan, Shaheedur Rahman and Nurul Abedin started their careers here. Later tournaments like Star Jubo and Star Summer had stopped. The first

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) took place back on 27 October 1988 during the

1988 Asia Cup The 1988 Asia Cup (also known as the Wills Asia Cup) was the third Asia Cup tournament, held in Bangladesh between 26 October and 4 November 1988. Four teams took part in the tournament: India national cricket team, India, Pakistan national cri ...

. Bangladesh's opponent was

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in those two matches. Bangladesh lost the matches by 9 wickets and 173 runs respectively. Bangladesh played 7

Tests Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

and 8 ODIs so far at this ground. The stadium made a debut as the 82nd test venue on 15 November 2001 with the Test match between Bangladesh and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

. The venue has also hosted group stage matches of

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Under-19 Cricket World Cup The Under-19 Men's Cricket World Cup is an international cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council contested by national under-19 teams. First contested in 1988, as the Youth Cricket World Cup, it was not staged aga ...

matches. The stadium is the main

venue of

port city A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

, it hosted matches during the

2006 AFC Challenge Cup The 2006 AFC Challenge Cup was held between 1 and 16 April 2006 in Bangladesh. Sixteen teams were split into four groups, the top two in each group qualifying for the quarterfinals, and from then on a straight knockout contest. There was no qual ...

and is also a regulars venue for the Chittagong Football League. On 2 January 2025, the

National Sports Council The National Sports Council (NSC) is the national overseer of the control authorities of 41 different sports in Bangladesh. It is responsible to the Bangladesh Ministry of Youth and Sports and is based in Purana Paltan, Dhaka. History Prior ...

leased the stadium to the

for 25 years. In 2025, the interim government of Bangladesh renamed the stadium as District Stadium, Chittagong.

Stats and records

The venue has hosted *

Test Matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...

– 23 *

– 25 *

T20I Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

– 22 * The venue hosted 1st ever International ODI match in Bangladesh in 1988. The match was between

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. * The venue became only 2nd test venue in Bangladesh in 2005. The first being

Bangabandhu National Stadium National Stadium, Dhaka () is a multipurpose sports arena and the national stadium of Bangladesh. Located in the Motijheel area of Dhaka, it is predominantly used for Association football, football matches and serves as the home venue for the B ...

. * In January 2005, when

Zimbabwe national cricket team The Zimbabwe men's national cricket team, also known as the Chevrons, represents Zimbabwe in men's international cricket and is overseen by Zimbabwe Cricket. Zimbabwe has been a Full Member of the International Cricket Council since 1992. As o ...

toured to Bangladesh, In the first test

won their first ever test match in their 35 test match at this venue.

defeated

by 226 runs.

BPL 2013

After a long time the M. A. Aziz Stadium hosted cricket matches of the second edition of

, along with Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

and

Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium Khulna Divisional Stadium, (, previously known as Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium and Bir Shrestha Shahid Flight Lieutenant Motiur Rahman Stadium) is a test cricket venue in Khulna, Bangladesh. History Khulna, situated in the south-western corner of ...

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

. Home team Chittagong Kings played 4 matches here. 10 matches were played from 25 January to 2 February 2013. ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----

Outer Stadium

Immediately east of MA Aziz Stadium lies Outer Stadium. Owned by the Bangladesh Army, it is on a 99-year lease to the Chittagong District Sports Association (''Chattagram Jila Krira Sangstha'' or CJKS). By 2012, Outer Stadium was almost never being used for sports, instead being used to host various fairs. The Chattogram Zila Krira Sangstha Swimming Complex opened in 2019 on one acre of the site. In 2020, only one corner of the remaining ground could be used for batting and bowling practice. The rest of the field was described by bdnews24.com as an overgrown, waterlogged dump, "unusable for sports" because of chronic neglect and lack of maintenance.

References

External links