# 2018 Bangabandhu Cup

The 2018 Bangabandhu Gold Cup or simply 2018 Bangabandhu Cup was an international association football tournament organized by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) as a tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. This was the 5th edition of the tournament with six teams competing from 1 to 12 October 2018.

## Participating teams

Six nations competed in the tournament. BFF president Kazi Salahuddin has previously stated that the BFF wanted to get one team from each of the Asian Football Confederation's sub-confederations. Afghanistan was also reported as a potential participant. All teams were the first teams except for the Philippines which brought their second team.
| Country | FIFA Ranking | Previous best performance |
| Bangladesh (Host) | 193 | Runners-up (2015) |
| Laos | 178 | N/A (Debut) |
| Nepal | 160 | Winners (2016) |
| Palestine | 100 | N/A (Debut) |
| Philippines | 114 | N/A (Debut) |
| Tajikistan | 120 | N/A (Debut) |

## Draw

The draw took place on 1 September 2018 at the Le Méridien Dhaka Hotel in Dhaka. The six teams were drawn into two groups with three teams each for the group stage.

## Venues

Matches were played in three venues. The Sylhet District Stadium in Sylhet hosted the group stage matches while the Cox's Bazar Stadium in Cox's Bazar hosted the semifinals. The Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka was the venue for the final.
| Dhaka | Sylhet | Cox's Bazar |
| Bangabandhu National Stadium | Sylhet District Stadium | Cox's Bazar Stadium |
| Capacity: 36,000 | Capacity: 25,000 | Capacity: 5,000 |
| DhakaSylhetCox's Bazar |||

## Group stage

* Times listed are UTC+6:00.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Palestine | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Tajikistan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Nepal | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Philippines | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 2 | Bangladesh (H) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage |
| 3 | Laos | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage

* Times listed are UTC+6:00
* In the knockout stage, extra-time and a penalty shoot-out was used to decide the winner if necessary.

### Bracket

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 9 October – Cox's Bazar | 9 October – Cox's Bazar |
| Philippines | 0 |
| Philippines | 0 | 12 October – Dhaka | 12 October – Dhaka |
| Tajikistan | 2 | 12 October – Dhaka | 12 October – Dhaka |
| Tajikistan | 2 | Tajikistan | 0 (3) |
| 10 October – Cox's Bazar | 10 October – Cox's Bazar | | Tajikistan | 0 (3) |
| 10 October – Cox's Bazar | 10 October – Cox's Bazar | Palestine (p) | 0 (4) |
| Palestine | 2 | Palestine (p) | 0 (4) |
| Bangladesh | 0 | | |

### Final
## Goalscorers

There were 15 goals scored in 9 matches, for an average of 1.67 goals per match.
2 goals
* Komron Tursunov
1 goal
* Biplu Ahmed
* Phithack Kongmathilath
* Abdelatif Bahdari
* Mohammed Balah
* Jonathan Cantillana
* Sameh Maraaba
* Khaled Salem
* Jovin Bedic
* Misagh Bahadoran
* Kenshiro Daniels
* Javier Gayoso
* Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev
* Akhtam Nazarov

## Sponsorship

Local sports marketing company K-Sports bought the rights for this edition of the tournament and provided all the expenditures.