Bangladeshi-born footballer Hamza Chowdhury, who plays in the English Premier League for Leicester City, has received a Bangladeshi passport.

On behalf of Hamza, his mother Rafia Chowdhury collected the passport from the Bangladesh High Commission in London on Friday, said his father Morshed Dewan.

Hamza applied for a Bangladeshi passport last June. His passport reached the Bangladesh High Commission a month ago. But Hamza could not receive the Bangladeshi passport because he was busy with pre-season preparations for Leicester City.

Morshed Dewan said, “Hamza`s mother, Rafia Chowdhury, went to the Bangladesh High Commission in London today [Friday] to receive Hamza`s passport. As the English Premier League has started, Hamza is now busy with his club Leicester City. Because of that, he was unable to go himself.”

Hamza had previously expressed his wish to play for the Bangladesh national team and the football fans have been waiting to see Hamza play in the green jersey of Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) has started the process of getting Hamza to play in the national football team. The first step in this process was to get Hamza a Bangladeshi passport. Now the next process of getting approval of the Football Association (FA) will begin. After that, he will need the permission of his club Leicester City to be able to start playing for Bangladesh.

The BFF is trying to avail Hamza to play in the Bangladesh jersey by the September window.

But, BFF General Secretary Imran Hossain Tushar said it is not possible to get Hamza by September due to lack of time, but there is a strong possibility of him playing for Bangladesh in the November window.