Koster still waiting for payment

Former assistant coach of Bangladesh national football team Rene Koster is yet to get his dues from the local game's governing body more than a year after football's world governing body delivered a verdict ordering the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) to pay more than 80,000 euros to the Dutchman.

Koster and head coach Lodewijk de Kruif had earlier been sacked by the BFF in October 2014, a year and three months after their appointments.

FIFA's Players' Status Committee delivered the verdict on March 7, 2016, after Koster had lodged a petition against the BFF claiming that the federation had breached contract and kept his salaries unpaid. The verdict stated that BFF owes the claimant approximately 80,000 euros, plus the interest accrued over the unpaid period at a rate of 5 per cent per annum. The verdict had also ordered the BFF to pay 8,000 Swiss francs to FIFA and Koster as proceedings of this case.

The Dutchman, having not received any payment from the BFF as yet, recently sent a copy of FIFA's verdict to The Daily Star newspaper.

When contacted, BFF's general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag admitted the non-payment issue and claimed they are trying to reach an 'amicable solution'. “Yes, we do owe him an amount of money. We are trying to reach an amicable solution to the issue and the National Teams' Committee is handling it,” Shohag said.

However, it has been learnt that the federation is not able to pay the amount due to its financial constraints.

Even though de Kruif was later re-instated, Koster did not return to the job, with more than three months' wages due. The BFF president, Kazi Salahuddin, had at the time of sacking implied that if the coaches went to FIFA, they would not have a strong case against the BFF.