Is expats’ inclusion the right process?
Surprising call-ups of France-based midfielder Tahmid Islam and Canada-based forward Rahbar Wahed Khan in Kyrgyzstan-bound Bangladesh football squad has apparently been leading the discussion of whether the dearth of quality local players has prompted the Bangladesh Football Federation to lean on expatriate footballers.
Bangladesh, who had once fought for the supremacy for SAFF Championship, were crushed out from the group stage in the last four editions of the regional football competition under the leadership of legendary footballer Kazi Salahuddin, who is apparently desperate to achieve success in the regional competition as well as improve FIFA ranking of struggling Bangladesh.
There might have been instruction from the game's governing body to scout for more expatriate footballers to strengthen the squad as Sweden-based Jamal Bhuiyan has been captaining the national side while Finland-born Tariq Raihan Kazi also wore the red and green jersey after impressing British coach Jamie Day through domestic league performances.
Nevertheless, the inclusion of expatriate footballers is bound to improve the depth of the squad and may induce success but is it the right process to evolve country's football?
Head coach Jamie Day believes this to be just another ploy to develop the national squad, albeit not the ideal way.
"The right method is having a 10-year plan of coaching youth by providing them appropriate facilities to create international players for the future but that takes a lot of investment and time, so looking abroad to find quality players, like many other countries do, can be an option if possible," Jamie told The Daily Star.
"Unfortunately, in football, people want a quick solution but that's not possible without building a foundation first."
The British coach still wants to prioritise the local booters playing regularly in the domestic league.
"I believe in the importance of the local players; they will always have priority. We know the best 40 local players, so it's my job to search for better players outside of Bangladesh for the betterment of the national side."
Country's lone UEFA A license coach Maruful Haque has a balanced perspective on the matter.
"We first have to see the philosophy of the national head coach. In my opinion, the coach is not pleased with the performance of the local players. That's why he is searching for foreign-based players who are assumed to be technically superior to the local players and because they can implement those techniques on field better," Maruful told The Daily Star while adding that the inclusion of those players won't improve the standard of Bangladesh significantly.
"I think there will hardly be any differences in the performance of the national football team with the inclusion of those expatriate players as they don't play in the higher-level leagues abroad. If they are quality ones, then they must have played in higher divisions and we would know them. I believe there will not be a big difference between the expatriate players and the local players, so the results will remain the same for the national team," opined the former national coach.
"Without giving attention to the grassroots and youth development, country's football will be stuck with the same scenario for years," added Maruful, who however believes that expatriate booters may trigger temporary positive change in Bangladesh football but unless quality local players are groomed up, the change won't be sustainable.