BFF emerging as a prominent training centre for Asian coaches

With more than half the participants from outside Bangladesh in its recent certificate course, the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) is slowly but surely becoming a more credible choice for coaching education. The AFC A Certificate Coaching Course that just concluded had 11 foreign coaches along with 10 local ones. This is perhaps the only time that a coaching course under BFF’s auspices has seen so many foreigners taking part. BFF’s football development programme focuses on training better coaches who will, in turn, train better players. The federation is currently in the middle of its five-phase development plan that began in 2008 and is expected to see it through 2028. The first two phases had prioritized tournaments and leagues with the motto “competition drives development”. The third and current phase – engaging and enriching the next generation – began in 2016. This phase looks to train the next generation of coaches who will be fully equipped with up to date knowledge of training methods and global best practices. These coaches will then go on to train much more effectively and bring about a newer and improved generation of footballers. With its ongoing coaching courses, BFF hopes begin the next phase – best people, best practice, best performance – with an army of capable and confident coaches who will get their players to perform consistently better. BFF recognised the importance quantity as well as the quality of coaches. The development plan dictated that coaches had to be qualified, accredited and experienced and at the same time it also dictated that their numbers be significantly increased at all levels. The federation also realised that it needed to train coach educators (or trainer of trainers) to effectively multiply the number of qualified coaches across the country in a short time. Towards that end, the federation developed futuristic and innovative coaching methods and standards, all the while ensuring inclusion of women. The development plan also envisioned a clear pathway from a player to a coach looking to increase professional opportunities in football. BFF embarked on its journey towards specialised coaching courses – positional, goalkeeping, youth, senior, foundation – developing a coaching and education scheme at the same time. The federation introduced AFC coaching courses, beginning with the C Certificate Course, the Goalkeeping Level 1 Course, then the B Certificate Course and so on. The first ever BFF AFC A Certificate Coaching Course was concluded in March 2018. However, not many foreign coaches were there even though the course was full of high profile local coaches. Then in the second BFF AFC A Certificate Coaching Course, which began on 4 May 2019, the BFF took in a total of 21 students among whom 11 were foreign coaches. Among the foreigners were four Indians, two Bhutanese, two Sri Lankans, two Malaysians and one Maldivian. Besides, there was a number of top-level coaches from Bangladesh who work with BPL and BCL clubs. The sheer variety of nationalities and football experience in the course goes to show the quality of the course organized by the BFF. The presence of the likes of Md Ahmed Nizam of Maldives adds to the depth of quality and of the BFF’s eagerness to arrange courses at this level and to involve the South Asian MAs. The BFF will continue to develop coaches as part of its scheme, with a new brand of specialised coaching courses. The scheme itself is closely associated with the development of national teams and youth development. National Technical and Strategic Director Paul Thomas Smalley said that this scheme reflected the BFF’s commitment to a national philosophy changing the prevailing culture. The federation’s effort to arrange courses according to the AFC’s conventions has also drawn praise from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) itself. On 9 May 2019, two AFC delegates and members of the Coach Education Panel – Iran’s technical director Morteza Mohases and South Korea’s technical director Kim Pangon – visited the BFF to observe the AFC A Certificate Coaching Course 2019. The duo met with Paul Smalley, who was also the instructor of the A certificate course, and discussed various aspects. After their primary observation, the delegates expressed their compliments over both the theoretical and practical sessions of the course. They were also impressed by how the BFF have provided a modern coach education scheme in Bangladesh and their commitment to improve the coaching culture. A balanced mixture of local and foreign coaches also drew their attention. The presence of a wide variety of foreign coaches in the BFF courses is a positive aspect on two fronts – one, BFF’s image and value increasing abroad and two, exposure of local coaches and their opportunity to interact with experienced foreign coaches. Keeping all the positives in sight, the BFF plans to arrange new coaching courses and attract increasing number of foreign coaches to develop modern local coaches and emerge as an elite training hub in Asia.
Previous PostBFF congratulates Tigers for winning maiden int’l trophy
Next PostLifting up everyone involved with the game