[1] The tournament was introduced by the East Pakistan Sports Federation in 1963 in memory of A. K. Fazlul Huq, who was popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, upon the request of Abbas Mirza, former captain of Calcutta Mohammedan.

Initially, the tournament would see First Division League clubs, university, and secondary education board teams compete.

On 10 January 2020, the BFF decided to revive the National Championship after a gap of 13 years, celebrating the 100th birth anniversary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The participant districts have been divided into eight zones named Padma, Meghna, Jamuna, Shitalakshya, Brahmaputra, Surma, Chitra and Buriganga.

[4] Teams representing education boards, universities, and the services teams—a total of 15 teams—are divided in four groups in Sheba zone.