The Bhutan Football Federation is going to investigate the financial issues of Daga United Football Club after their head coach announced that he is quitting the club during a press conference on Friday. The coach cited inconsistent financial support from the club’s management for the decision. There are also speculations that most of the players are also going to leave the club.
A source told BBS that the head coach, several players and a staff were neither paid on time nor the agreed amount by the team owner.
During the post-match interview on Friday, Daga United’s head coach Azmul Hossain said the lack of support from the management including unpaid salaries and inadequate provisions for players and staff has impacted team morale and performance.
The Bhutan Football Federation, the governing body of the BOB Bhutan Premier League said that it is aware of the issues within Daga United FC.
Phuntsho Wangdi, Bhutan Football Federation’s media spokesperson said, “The newly formed club from Dagana is under a financial problem, they’re struggling financially to pay salaries for players and also they’re struggling to meet the DE, DA expenses of the club. We have spoken to some of the prominent members of Daga FC to step up and support the club. The players didn’t have money even to eat lunch or they didn’t even have money to buy water that was the condition which has been alerted to us by some of the players and also the officials.”
He added that the federation has provided grants, and other forms of support as far as possible, but the club’s poor financial planning has led to the issue.
He said that the federation is looking into this matter and will be conducting meetings with the management, president and executive committee members to take appropriate measures to resolve the issue.
An unnamed player of the club said that they have not received their salary on time and as per the contract agreement since the qualifiers tournament. The player said due to inconsistency in payment, they were not in a position to even pay for their daily expenses when travelling to other districts to play for the club.
Pelchen Thai, the owner of Daga United refuted claims that players are quitting the club. He said the coach could be leaving the club but nothing has been communicated to him verbally or in writing as yet.
Regarding financial issues, the club owner said that the club has disbursed the salaries of Bhutanese players on time but failed to do so for a foreign player for two months. He said this is because the player asked the payment in US dollars. He claimed that there are no directives as such from the Bhutan Football Federation that payments for foreign players has to be done in US dollars.
He said, “To run a club in Bhutan is not very easy, whenever the club goes up for BPL from the qualifiers, then more burdens and more challenges are coming. Whatever it may be, the challenges that are coming and came, it will be resolved. At present though I have my sponsor, they have agreed to support me for three years but they didn’t turn up.”
He added although he is grateful to Bhutan Football Federation for providing travel subsidy of Nu 50,000 per away match, it does not get released prior to their journey. He also said the amount is not enough to cover transportation and other costs, as they require at least Nu 60,000 to meet all expenses.
“Today itself I am writing a mail to the BFF and then Dasho Dzongda and Dzongkhag Sports Association’s secretary as well, so that I can handover my presidentship to another person, Mr. Phurba Wangchuk from Dagapela,” he said.
Daga United FC are the champions of the Pepsi Bhutan Premier League Qualifiers 2024. They progressed to the country’s top-tier league, the BOB Bhutan Premier League with an unbeaten record in the qualifiers.
Sonam Dhendup
Edited by Kipchu
