BFF moves to second choice after Coleman deal collapses over agent fee

Bangladesh Football Federation president Tabith Awal revealed on Monday that negotiations with former Wales coach Chris Coleman collapsed over a disagreement regarding agent fees, forcing the federation to move towards its second-choice candidate for the national team’s head coach role.

Although Tabith did not directly mention Coleman by name, it has been learned that the BFF had shortlisted three candidates, with Coleman heading the list ahead of Bernd Storck and Thomas Dooley.

The federation had initially targeted May 15 to announce the appointment but failed to meet the deadline.

“For the first time we have been in the process of appointing the head coach of the national team and we completed our task as per the plan within the right way and scheduled time,” Tabith told reporters at the federation office on Monday.

“We took the decision of who we were going to appoint by May 15 but unfortunately we did not have the financial backup to implement that decision.”

According to Tabith, the Ministry of Youth and Sports had assured the BFF of additional financial support to cover part of the coach’s salary. However, talks broke down at the final stage because of a dispute over agent commission.

“The sports ministry ensured us of providing the extra fund for meeting a part of the coach’s salary. However, when we wanted to complete the deal, there was a disagreement that was to pay for thee agent fees for appointing the coach,” Tabith said.

“The amount of fees is not an issue, rather it is a matter of policy. We had, in recent past, appointed some coaches for short time but never gave fees to agent, lawyer or anyone else.

“We were ready with the budget and final agreement but the agent informed us that they did not want to progress further and the journey came to an end.”

Tabith, however, sounded optimistic about finalising a deal with another candidate soon, saying negotiations were already at an advanced stage.

“Now, the process is going on with another coach. We are hoping to strike a final agreement by today or tomorrow.”