2023–24 Independence Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Bangladesh
Dates	Qualifying: 20–23 October 2023 Competition proper: 27 October – 18 December 2023
Teams	13
Venue(s)	3 (in 3 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Bashundhara Kings (3rd title)
Runners-up	Dhaka Mohammedan
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	45 (2.05 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Jonathan Fernandes (Bashundhara Kings) Higor Leite (Sheikh Jamal DC) Dorielton Gomes (Bashundhara Kings) (3 goals each)
Best player(s)	Rakib Hossain (Bashundhara Kings)
Fair play award	Dhaka Mohammedan

The 2023–24 Independence Cup, also known as the 2023 Independence Cup was the 13th edition of the Independence Cup, Bangladesh's top division clubs & services teams football cup tournament.^[1] A total of 13 teams were contested in the tournament.^[2][3]

Bashundhara Kings is the defending champion. They have won the title by beating Dhaka Mohammedan by 2−1 goals in the final on 18 December 2023.^[4]

Participating teams

The following thirteen teams were participated in the tournament.

Venues

Originally the Shaheed Dhirendranath Datta Stadium in Cumilla was included as one of the host venues for the tournament, however, the district cricket league has prevented the Cumilla District Sports Association from lending the district stadium. Thus, instead of four, the tournament were held at three venues locations.^[5]

Munshigonj
Shaheed Bir Sreshtho Flight Lt. Matiur Rahman Stadium
Capacity: 10,000
Gopalganj Munshigonj Dhaka Location of the stadiums for the 2023–24 Independence Cup (Bangladesh)
Gopalganj	Dhaka
Sheikh Fazlul Haque Mani Stadium	Bashundhara Kings Arena
Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 14,000

Round and dates

Draw

The draw ceremony were held on 23 October 2023 at 3rd floor of BFF house Motijheel, Dhaka. There are thirteen teams were divided into four groups. Top two team from each group will through in the Knockout stage.^[6]

Group Summary

Match officials

Referees

Assistant Referees

(†): working as both referee and assistant referee.

Qualifying play-offs

Group stages

Tiebreakers

Teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss), and if tied on points, the following tie-breaking criteria were applied, in the order given, to determine the rankings.

1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches among tied teams;
4. If more than two teams are tied, and after applying all head-to-head criteria above, a subset of teams are still tied, all head-to-head criteria above are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams;
5. Goal difference in all group matches;
6. Goals scored in all group matches;
7. Penalty shoot-out if only two teams were tied and they met in the last round of the group;
8. Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points);
9. Drawing of lots.

Knockout stage

• In the knockout stages, if a match finished goalless at the end of normal playing time, extra time would have been played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.

Statistics

Winners

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:

Fair Play Award		Best goalkeeper		Best player
Mohammedan SC[7]		None[7]		Rakib Hossain (Bashundhara Kings)[7]

See also

• 2023–24 Federation Cup (Bangladesh)

References