FFSL ready to adopt foreign mold – Rodrigo
The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) hopes to come out with a comprehensive annual event calendar from 2014 while adopting a new recruitment process to pick a suitable national coach according to its President Ranjith Rodrigo.
Rodrigo revealed on the need of a well planned schedule to clip down the amount of hard work made by the local players, who are engaged with competitions throughout the year without a break. In addition Rodrigo stated that the present layout of competitions will only make players more exhausting, which eventually will make Sri Lanka a mediocre side at international level.
Maldives’ 10-0 thrashing of Sri Lanka at the SAF Cup in Nepal was a serious blow for the FFSL - File pic
Besides the issue which the FFSL is scheduled to make a firm decision at its next executive committee meeting to be held during the final week of December, Rodrigo revealed that the national football squad which was disbanded in October will be resumed from January under a new coach, preferably a foreigner.
“If a player is to become a top contender at international level, he has to play at least 30 top level domestic matches. The FFSL is pleased that we were able to give them that exposure through the ongoing Dialog Champions League 2013 which will culminate in the coming week. But we have other issues that need to be addressed quickly and firmly. We managed to sit together as a team and discuss these matters with the aim of curbing them to a certain extent,” Rogrido stated.
The Dialog Champions League (DCL) 2013 which has reached its semi-final stage after a staggering amount of 180 matches from league rounds however was stalled for over six weeks due to various reasons. The Sri Lanka national team’s engagements in Thailand and at the South Asian Federation Football Championship in Nepal where the locals were massacred by Maldives by 10-0 were main reasons behind holding back the DCL 2013 competition for quite a long period than expected. However football emerged the eventual loser after Sri Lanka’s dismal performances overseas which in turn led back to serious backlashes by experts and fans alike.
“It proved that just playing domestic tournaments is not enough to compete at international level. Football needs to turn professional. We initiated that programme from August this year by paying the players a healthy monthly allowance. But in September we were thrashed mercilessly at an international tournament, which made us all clueless. We have observed that there are loopholes in our system that needs to be mended before coming out with a comprehensive plan. With all that in place we will resume the national squad from January 2013, with all the facilities plus a profession to help their well being under a foreign coach,” Rodrigo added.
Rodrigo: “The reason why we cannot appoint a local for the national coach’s position is mainly because of favouritism.”
Rodrigo revealed that the FFSL has posted an advertisement in its official website calling in for a suitable candidate as the national football coach of Sri Lanka. The FFSL website in its advertisement further stated that the person whom they are looking for should be; an experienced, qualified coach with good track record with positive results should have the ability to speak fluently in English language in day-to-day work and a team man who can develop a good relationship with local coaches as chief requirements. In addition the FFSL goes on to state that ‘Sri Lanka is not a high-riding country in football, but talent is not a short coming as the country have produced many teams and individuals with international recognition in many other sports.’
The conditions goes on to say that FFSL shall shortlist capable applications and call for interviews personally in Sri Lanka to assess all proposals by prospective applicants. An in addition as revealed by Rodrigo the website states that ‘applicants must bear their own cost for travel to Sri Lanka for interviews and FFSL shall provide with suitable accommodation while in Sri Lanka.’
“So far we have received quite a number of responses from foreign candidates. We are looking at recruiting a foreigner, preferably a European. The candidates’ applications will be strictly studied before being short listed. They will be thoroughly interviewed by a panel which includes experts from Sri Lanka as well as from the Asian Football Confederation. We have to seriously look at an individual who will suit our conditions and culture, when it comes to football. He will be picked here in Sri Lanka. The selection process will begin in January.”
According to Rodrigo Sri Lanka will be engaged with three inbound tours in Sri Lanka from May 2014. The national teams of Kyrgyzstan and Palestine have already confirmed that they will visit Sri Lanka on friendly tours while Malaysia is still considering the invitation made by the FFSL. Malaysia also has extended an invitation for Sri Lanka for a tour and they are likely to confirm their tour to Sri Lanka in the near future.
“In addition, besides a foreign coach, the national team will need to appoint a professional manager. He will most probably be a fulltime and paid employee. He has to be an important decision maker and a firm individual with a strong mind. We have enough of people with those requirements here in Sri Lanka,” stressed Rodrigo who validated his observations why Sri Lanka cannot afford to appoint a local as the national coach of Sri Lanka.
“The reason why we cannot appoint a local for the national coach’s position is mainly because of favouritism, which has been proven beyond doubt during recent years. I’m not underestimating our coaches but that’s the truth. However locals will be in charge of other national sides of different age level. What we are looking at are individuals who can work independently. But there is an open question about the assistant coach, who will be next in command in the national team.”
“At the same time our Under-19, Under-22 and Under-24 teams have done quite well in 2013. These teams will be the feeders for the national side in time to come. These teams however will be coached by Sri Lankans. Japan has agreed to provide us coaches to help some of our junior sides that will compete at AFC and FIFA competitions in the future. If we plan according to targets Sri Lanka can become a top side in the near future,” he further said.
Prior to appointing the national coach, the FFSL hopes to implement the intended event calendar which will avoid the clash of domestic and overseas assignments unlike in the recent years. They are also on the verge of negotiating with top officials in obtaining international standard venues such as the Sugathadasa Stadium, which the FFSL has been shunned from patronisation since November.
“Our players have got very little opportunity to play at international level venues during the past five years. We hardly have top quality venues, and those we have got are not up to the expected standards. That has been one of the major ailments seen during the past five years. This is not a healthy development when it comes to international level, as our players become total strangers at international games. But in contrast at certain venues we were compelled to host some of our DCL 2013 matches, spectators amounting up to 5000 came to watch the game. This is a good sign and it shows that football still has a soft corner among the ordinary people. What we need to do is learn from mistakes and move forward,” Rodrigo spelt out.