Football coach set to take pay cut
Amir Alagic (C) with FFSL President Anura de Silva (R) when the Bosnian-born Australian was introduced to Sri Lanka - Pic by Priyantha Wickramaarachchi
The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) is in talks with its foreign head coach Amir Alagic to reduce his exorbitant salary because of the crisis caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, which has dented their ambitious development plans.
However, FFSL President Anura de Silva is keen to retain the services of the Bosnian-born Australian by appointing him as Technical Director of the federation.
“He is a highly professional guy. He has all the capabilities to be a Technical Director. We are negotiating with AFC (Asian Football Confederation) to see whether we can appoint him as Technical Director. Then we can see how a long-term development plan can be established,” de Silva told the Sunday Times.
Alagic holds an UEFA Professional Coaching License and has worked with many European and Asian elite clubs. During a coaching career spanning 25 years, he has been in countries such as Australia, Bosnia, Germany, USA, Brunei, India, Oman and Sweden.
He also headed the Brunei National team and Bosnia National Under-19 team. Among elite clubs, he was the assistant coach of Werder Bremen of Germany in 2007 when the club played in the UEFA Champions League. In the sub-continent, he has been the Academy Director at East Bengal SC and Head Coach of New Radiant SC Maldives.
His appointment as Technical Director would ease the expenditure incurred by the FFSL since the AFC would be paying his salary. The immediate concern for FFSL is how best to utilize Alagic, who arrived in the island on February and signed a renewable two-year contract with the state of football in limbo.
“We have to wait and see what is the best we can with him. We have to pay him a salary. That also we have to negotiate with him what we can do. I am sure he understands the plight of everyone globally,” said Sri Lanka’s football chief, who has been kicking his heels at his home in Colombo for the past month.
“We had plans to conduct our development programme but we are in a crisis situation that does not allow us to do anything at the moment. We (FFSL) have had no meeting since March 20. I am from Colombo, but I am just staying at home because we can’t go out. Similarly, all the officials and players are restricted from doing anything. We even had national team matches, all that was postponed without a clear date,” he said.
Following consultation with Asia’s member associations, FIFA and the AFC agreed to postpone the upcoming Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 due to the Coronavirus outbreak in several countries.
China’s matches against Maldives at home and Guam away were already moved to Buri Ram and were set to be played in an empty stadium, but more than two dozen other matches were scheduled around the continent on two match days on March 26 and 31. A further 32 games were scheduled to be played during the second international break on two match days on June 4 and 9.
FIFA added that the matches could still go ahead if the member associations due to play each other mutually agree and safety standards are met, subject to prior approval from both FIFA and the AFC.
Sri Lanka was scheduled to play North Korea in Pyongyang on March 26 and South Korea in Colombo on March 31 with a trip to Lebanon on June 4 for their final Group ‘H’ encounter.
“We have to play all these matches during FIFA international match calendar. We have to be in line with that calendar and play the matches when the situation comes to normal. In this current situation, I can’t say where or what we can see from the ground or when we can do any activity. It all depends on the outcome from the government and the decisions based on the health conditions. The national pool has been disbanded because we cannot train or do anything know,” he added.
However, just like Sri Lanka’s cricket coach Mickey Arthur, Alagic has given national players a training schedule to do at home.
“He also given training programme for all the players to do from home. For them to keep their fitness levels until the situation returns to normal. We have a Whatsapp group distributing among players the required knowledge and keep themselves occupied,” said de Silva, a former Sri Lanka captain.
The FFSL has to look for a new window to launch the inaugural Super League, which was scheduled to begin this month.
“We cannot do anything right at the moment. We will have to reassess the whole thing and we have to communicate with FIFA and AFC also about this professional league. We have to inform them and see what is the outcome. If they give us the green light, we can start the tournament in latter part of the year. Then we can go ahead. Otherwise we have to shift to next year,” he said.
AFC Champions League
Meanwhile, Asia’s top football competitions will go ahead this year despite the Coronavirus pandemic, a senior official had told the AFP, although games may have to be played behind closed doors.
The news followed a statement by the Football Association of Thailand on Tuesday that the country’s top two leagues would resume in September.
On Wednesday, Windsor John, General Secretary of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), said he was confident that the AFC Champions League and AFC Cup would both be completed.
Both tournaments, featuring teams from throughout Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, are on hold until at least the end of June after Covid-19 shuttered professional sport worldwide.
“Both will be played this year. We still have time,” John told AFP, adding that new dates for the competitions may be known by the end of April.
However, John did not rule out matches being played without fans “if that’s what the health authorities need”.
His comments came after the AFC on Tuesday announced the indefinite postponement of all matches scheduled for May and June due to the virus.
The Champions League, the region’s premier club competition, and the second-tier AFC Cup were both halted in March as the pandemic’s spread forced governments to impose strict travel restrictions.
Both tournaments are on an increasingly tight schedule, with the 32-team Champions League needing to complete four rounds of group-stage matches in July before the postponed knock-out phase begins in August.
The group phase of the AFC Cup will also have to be completed in a rush once matches resume.
The finals for both tournaments — which traditionally take a break in July, to avoid the worst of the Asian summer heat — are scheduled to take place in November.
Domestic leagues remain on hold around the world, including in China where the virus first emerged, but where football shows no sign of returning despite optimism the outbreak is under control.
June qualifiers for the men’s 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup had been postponed before the AFC’s announcement on Tuesday.
Asian football was an early sporting casualty of the Coronavirus pandemic, before competitions in Europe — including Euro 2020 — and the rest of the world were also affected.