Sri Lanka football chief Ranjith Rodrigo explaining his plans for next year at the Football House on Wednesday said they will most probably hire a European coach for the national team.
“We have advertised for a coach and have received a large number of applications. Last time we selected the coach based on their CV but this time they have to come with their own funds and face trails conducted by local officials together with consultants from AFC and FIFA before selecting the coach,” said Ranjith Rodrigo president of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).
Explaining further Rodrigo said that this time they will select a coach who is capable of speaking English and a quality coach who is suitable for the Sri Lankan ranking and a payment that is affordable.
Sri Lanka are also lined up to play against a few foreign teams like Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Palestine in May next year. Sri Lanka will also tour Malaysia to play a few friendly matches.
“We have also held discussions to participate in the South Asian Games under-21 tournament next year. My target is to bring down our ranking close to 150 from the current 167 and hope these tournaments will help us,” noted Rodrigo.
The president also noted that local coaches favoured some players when they become the national coach and this is why they need a foreign coach to avoid such situations and improve the standards. He also said that local coachers failed to do their duty in the correct manner even though they ask for more benefits. “There are about 300 coachers with level 1, 2 and higher qualifications but they aren’t working as expected for the development of football though they ask for high salaries. They should do their job right before asking for bigger salaries.”
