The 2000 National Football League was the inaugural season of the country's first football league held on a national scale. The league was also known as the Nitol-Tata National Football League due to sponsorship reasons.
The league included the top three finishing clubs from the 1999 season of the country's top-tier football league at the time, the Dhaka Premier Division League. The clubs were the league champions Dhaka Mohammedan, runners-up Muktijoddha Sangsad KC and third-place Dhaka Abahani. Additionally, the district league champions of Chittagong (Chittagong Abahani), Khulna (Khulna Abahani), and Rajshahi (Rajshahi Abahani) were also given direct entry to the league. Chaturanga Jubo Sangha from Sylhet won a play-off against the champions of Barisal to secure their place in the league. Netrokona-based Mohammedan SC was also granted permission to enter the league.
On 4 January 2000, the three Dhaka clubs: Dhaka Mohammedan, Dhaka Abahani, and Muktijoddha Sangsad KC submitted their squad lists. On 7 January, Netrokona Mohammedan SC, Chittagong Abahani, Rajshahi Abahani KC, Khulna Abahani KC and Sylhet Chaturanga Jubo Sangha announced their squads.
The first-round games were played in Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi. In the final round, all games were held in Dhaka.