Esports athletes from Bangladesh are set to take part in the Asian Esports Games 2024, an international competition for the Asia region. Representatives from Bangladesh are scheduled to participate in two games — Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and eFootball — in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 25 to 29. However, many questions have been raised about the selection of the eFootball representative from our country.

ASM Nesar Uddin, who goes by the alias “MercwithD_” was chosen to represent our country in the games. According to a press release, the selection process was organised by the Bangladesh Youth Development and Electronic Sports Association (BYDESA). The player was revealed at a press conference at the ongoing City IT Mega Fair 2024 in Dhaka on November 16.

But prominent eFootball gamers in the country, including Ryan Ismail, the champion of Discovery One Mobile Mania 2024, the largest mobile gaming event in the history of Bangladesh, said that they were not made aware of any such qualifiers. According to Ryan, “None of us know how the representative of such a big international tournament was selected. If I had known, I would have definitely participated.”

Such a lack of transparency from the regional managing body has turned a lot of heads, with disappointed gamers sharing their outrage on social media. As of publishing this, BYDESA has yet to issue a statement on this issue.

“MercwithD_” was the eFootball champion of this year’s Road to IESF for Bangladesh. For his victory, he was set to represent Bangladesh in the IESF World Esports Championship 2024. As this qualifier was also administered by BYDESA, many have theorised that MercwithD_ was automatically chosen as the representative for AEG due to his triumph in Road to IESF.