No Bangladesh football has ever gone to a European club for a trial - not even legendary footballers like Kazi Salahuddin or Aslam. The rising star of Bangladesh, Hemanta Vincent Biswas, is going to write history as the captain of Bangladesh U-19 national team received an offer from Dutch professional football club FC Twente.
Bangladesh’s Dutch head coach Lodewijk de Kruif, using his connections at FC Twente, acted as the scout between the club and the player. Kruif also scouted players in Nigeria for Twente during his time as head coach at Heartland FC. This time, Kruif chose two players from the South Asian region. Along with Hemanta, Nepal U-16 captain Bimal Gharti Magar is also expected to travel to Netherlands for trial.
As a midfielder, the Dinajpur hailing Hemanta rose from BKSP and caught the attention of Dutch coaches Kruif and Rene Koster during the U-19 training camp for the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers which were held in Iraq last month. Hemanta is currently staying with Mohammedan SC without any contract.
“We have a visa for Hemnata. He will go to FC Twente, who were the champions of Netherlands two or three years ago (2009-10). They are a very big club with a fantastic organization, a very good youth department. With my contacts over there, I could arrange a trial period for one month and he will go as soon as possible,” said Kruif at the BFF House yesterday.
“It’s a very big opportunity for young player like Hemanta, he can be an example for other players. Hopefully, the club will like them, pick them and they can go on with their career in a better environment to develop themselves,” he added.
Kruif said that Vincent, along with Bimal will depart for Europe within a week after the Nepalese obtains a visa. Kruif said it would be a “Miracle” for Bangladesh if Vincent make it into Twente.
“It is very important for them to show the qualities and stay normal, stay humble and keep their eyes and ears very open and try to adapt to the level. We think that they have a chance. The goal is go to Europe, show yourself with performance and they will keep you there and that would be a miracle for this country,” said the coach.
Hemanta himself is delighted with the offer. “It’s a great opportunity for me because I’m going to a European country for the first time for trial. I will try to perform my best to get chance there and make the country proud,” he declared.
Meanwhile, another Dutch coach Rene Koster revealed plans for a talent hunting program throughout the country.
“We have 12 tournaments in the coming 18 months in different age groups from U-14 to national team. Our task is to perform in those tournaments. We are thinking there are better players in the country, we don’t know. We need to do talent hunting to give every player in Bangladesh a chance.
“The other thing is to re-organise the staff of the BFF. We also need talented coaches to train them. We are going to talk about coaches and to get staff who are dedicated. We need budget for that. We need to play international tournaments and friendly matches,” said Koster.
BFF general secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag said that the federation will provide the necessary support to the Dutch coaches’ future plans. “It’s the responsibility of BFF to ensure and provide the budget. As per the plans and activities of the coaches, we are yet to finalise that. We will release the budget as per the approved plans.”
