Bangladesh Football Federation will not appoint Chris Coleman as the national team’s head coach. BFF president Tabith Awal confirmed the news on Monday at the federation’s headquarters in Dhaka, bringing a chaotic and drawn-out selection process to an embarrassing conclusion. Talks collapsed at the final stage over an agent fee that Coleman’s representatives demanded directly from the federation, a condition BFF refused on policy grounds.
It was a fitting end to a process that had been marked by delays, missed deadlines and a series of avoidable missteps from the start.
Coleman had been BFF’s first choice throughout. The federation spent weeks negotiating salary and contract terms with the former Wales manager, eventually settling both to their satisfaction. Then, at the very end, came the agent fee demand. BFF refused, citing a policy of never having paid agent fees in any previous coaching appointment. Coleman’s side informed them they did not wish to finalise the agreement.
“We reached the final stage of the process,” Tabith said. “Then disagreement emerged over the agent in the middle. The agent demanded a fee from BFF. Money was not the main issue, the issue was policy. We never paid an agent fee in previous appointments. Despite having the budget prepared, they informed us they did not want to finalise the agreement.”
The question the federation has not answered is why the agent fee issue surfaced only at the final stage. BFF had spent weeks resolving salary and contract terms, leaving the basic question of representation costs unaddressed until the process was effectively complete. It was an elementary oversight in a process that had already attracted criticism for its handling.
That criticism extended to Tabith’s absence from Dhaka on 15 May, the date BFF had publicly targeted for an announcement. The president was in Thailand at the time. No appointment followed. When pressed, Tabith kept his response personal. “Family comes first for me. You can criticise any decision or activity, that is absolutely fair. But I request everyone not to drag family into these matters.”
The scale of the disorganisation becomes clearer when the full process is examined. From an initial pool of 176 applicants, BFF drew up a shortlist of 12, of whom 11 were interviewed via video call. That list was narrowed to six final candidates: Coleman, Spain’s David Doniga, Argentina’s Juan Vita and Germans Bernd Storck, Antoni He and Michael Nies. Further interviews followed, eventually producing a final three of Coleman, Storck and Rogerio Micale, the coach who led Brazil to Olympic gold at the 2016 Games. Micale, however, had already withdrawn from the process weeks earlier, signing with Brazilian second-division club Londrina Esporte Clube after growing tired of waiting for BFF to make a decision. That departure had been widely reported. BFF pressed on regardless.
Coleman had been first choice throughout, his record with Wales speaking for itself. Under his management, Wales climbed from 117th to 8th in the FIFA world rankings and reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016, one of the most remarkable achievements in British international football history. His club career had taken in Fulham, Sunderland and Real Sociedad. He was interviewed virtually by BFF on 9 May. The process still took another 10 days to fall apart.
Storck and Thomas Dooley remain on BFF’s shortlist. Tabith confirmed the federation expects to complete an appointment within 48 hours, with the national team camp opening on 24 May and Bangladesh facing San Marino away on 5 June. The new coach will be handed a two-year contract, with financial backing expected from the sports ministry to cover the full coaching staff package.
“From 24 May we will start camp under a permanent new coach,” Tabith said.
Whether the next 48 hours unfold more smoothly than the previous several weeks remains to be seen.
