Bff Goes Dutch

It was Dutch delight for BFF president Kazi Salahuddin (R) yesterday. Photo: Star

Lodewijk De Kruif has become the 16th foreign coach of the Bangladesh national football team when he finally put pen to paper at the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) headquarters in Motijheel yesterday.
The 43-year-old Dutch signed a two-year contract, ending the BFF's one-and-a-half-year search for a high-profile coach after the departure of Macedonian Nikola Ilievski in December 2011 following Bangladesh's failure in the SAFF Championship in India.
Kruif will also have his compatriot Rene Koster as deputy during his assignment with a footballing nation long starved of success even at the regional level.
It was learnt that the Dutchman will get a monthly salary of 12,000 Euros (16,000 US dollars), exclusive of other facilities like accommodation, transpiration and health insurance.
Kruif, who has already enjoyed a brief stint with the national team during the AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers in Nepal in March, however arrived here with a mission to inject the Dutch style of football.
“There is nothing to change. The question is whether we can bring the Dutch style in Bangladesh and educate the players on what we do in Holland. From this point of view, we want to install the Dutch way of football and that is the starting point. Our process will go on and we are very serious about it,” said Kruif while talking to reporters at the BFF House yesterday.
BFF president Kazi Salahuddin, personally a passionate fan of Holland, considered the appointment of Kruif as the first step towards fulfilling his “Vision 2022”.
“What I can say is that we have started that journey from today (Thursday) through the appointment of the Dutch coaches and we will do everything in our power to fulfil that dream, which is a place in the 2022 Qatar World Cup finals,” said an ambitious Salahuddin.
Kruif said that nine years down the road is a long time and it is a dream that can be fulfilled. But he was more focused on immediate pressing issues.
“We will have to start from somewhere. I think I have already installed a bit of Dutch style. We saw the players in Nepal. They were adopting the style very well and they are willing to learn and want to change something. That is a very good attitude,” said the Dutch coach.