Performance, not reputation, will decide places in team: Varela

Mohammedan Sporting Club’s new coach Fernando Varela has said players will have to earn their places through performance, regardless of their names or past records.

The Argentine-born coach, who lives in Spain, arrived in Bangladesh early Sunday and joined the club’s Motijheel premises later in the day. Club officials formally introduced him to the media in the afternoon.

Varela will begin training with the team on Monday. He has previously coached Indian clubs Gokulam Kerala, Churchill Brothers, Bengaluru United and, most recently, Goa SC.

Although this is his first coaching assignment with a Bangladeshi club, Varela has visited the country before. He came to Chattogram with Gokulam Kerala for the Sheikh Kamal International Club Cup in 2019.

Nine Mohammedan players were in the national team camp, with six currently in Indonesia as part of the final squad for the ASEAN Cup.

“I have come here to win titles. Those who perform well in the weeks before matches will get opportunities in the team. Names or past performances are not important to me,” Varela said.

Mohammedan began training on September 19 under interim coach and goalkeeper Chaid Hasan Kannan. He kept in regular contact with Varela and conducted training sessions according to the new coach’s instructions.

Kannan said Varela’s training methods had impressed him and expressed hope that the team would win a title under the new coach.

Mohammedan, one of Bangladesh’s most successful clubs, won the league title only once in the professional era, in the 2024-25 season.

Club director-in-charge Lokman Hossain Bhuiyan said the club wanted to revive the tradition of the Mohammedan teams of the 1970s and 1980s with the new coach and players.

Sports director Mostakur Rahman urged the local players to perform well for the club and said Mohammedan had a large supporter base.

Former player Syed Rumman Bin Wali Sabbir also thanked the players for joining the club and urged them to prove themselves on the field.

sks