BFF President’s statement for December, 2017
Greetings! Welcome to the briefing of December 2017.
SAFF U15
Let me start with my wholehearted congratulations to our U15 women’s
team for their excellent performance and a thumping victory and their
consistently superb performance throughout the SAFF Women’s U15
tournament. Our girls managed to beat India 1-0 in the final, remained
unbeaten without conceding a single goal. They had beaten all the teams
in the previous stage convincingly and left no doubt that our girls were
the best team with the best players and worthiest contenders for the
trophy.
I am delighted to pronounce with much certainty that our academies and residency training programmes are yielding rich dividends sooner than we had expected. These girls have been developed for over the last year. It was plain that their experience from consistent training, games programme, playing tougher and stronger opponents from the national women’s teams prepared them well to face their contemporaries with full confidence. This holistic development for our elite female players will continue with vigour and foresight.
First Ever Instructors Course
This month saw the first ever BFF AFC Instructors Course with the aim of
creating more qualified coaches around the country. I have repeated
this often only because there is no alternative to educated and
qualified coaches on our way to better footballing standards across the
country. The first step towards that is to make sure that young expiring
footballers are exposed to correct teaching, learning and proper
practice.
The only way to multiply the number of qualified coaches is to have qualified coach instructors who will be able to develop more coaches. These coaches will be qualified to develop C certificate coaches.
The instructors’ course had 22 participants with 18 male and 4 female coaches. Only those with a B or A License Certificate, coaching background and some teaching credentials were eligible to take part. The course included 35 hours of training in total during which the students learned about teaching strategies, learning, presentation skills, the C Certificate Course content, assessment processes, and importance of feedback and engaged in micro teaching sessions both in the classroom and on the field.
A more viable and varied coaching career will ensure higher retention of footballing talent in the game long after the players have retired from active football. This will hopefully make football look like a viable career option for many instead of just a few years as a club player.
National Referees’ Exam
Bangladesh Football Federation held a test to promote Class I Referees
to National Referees at the Bangabandhu National Stadium. BFF Referees
Committee organised the exam with the committee deputy chair Ibrahim
Nesar and Sujit Kumar Banerjee as physical instructors. This test
included physical and written exam. A total of 75 referees from all over
the country took part. This emphasized a fresh drive to continue to
develop our referees.
School football from February
Bangladesh Football Federation is all set to roll out school football
across the country from February, 2018. This is a fantastic opportunity
to provide football opportunities to school age children. This
initiative will involve 53 districts throughout Bangladesh. These teams
will be split into eight zones. Then they will compete in a two group
league phase in the first round with the eight zonal champions getting
involved in the final round. The final round will also be a two-group
league affair.
BFF reaffirmed to be strict as players’ age will be verified with birth certificates, admit cards of public exams and if required by medical exam.
Each school will be allowed to register a maximum of 20 players. The talented players who catch the eyes of BFF scouts will be invited to our player development programmes.
AFC referee visit
BFF welcomed a refereeing support contingent from AFC to review our
officiation at BPL games and to oversee the BFF’s referee strategic
plan. During the three-day visit, the AFC delegation spoke to our
referee committee, administration and representatives from our referee
department.
FIFA development visit
BFF welcomed the FIFA development officer for the region who was
extremely supportive in adding value to our Forward Programme projects
and worked with us in our planning in 2018 and beyond.
President’s Visits
FIFA has asked for feedback with regard to their Forward programme. So a
number of Member Associations met overseas to discuss this initiative
and possible suggestions for the future and possible additional
continued support for the member countries. I feel that our relationship
with AFC and FIFA must be one that is close, meaningful and
interactive. We consistently receive positive comments from both the
bodies with regard to what we are trying to do for the development of
the game in Bangladesh. Our strategic plan, development of players and
coaches and our commitment to improving football has impressed AFC and
FIFA. I look forward to 2018 with increased optimism and excitement.
