Saintfiet delays signing contract for Bangladesh football coaching role

Tom Saintfiet's contract with Bangladesh is still an unofficial verbal one as the Belgian manager is yet to sign an official deal with the Bangladesh Football Federation.

The BFF, too, has not cleared the confusion surrounding the contract, while the foreign media reports on the coach and the local ones are not on the same page.

Bangladesh will play against Bhutan over two legs - on Sep 6 and Oct 10 - in the second round playoffs of the Asian Cup qualifiers.

Saintfiet, who arrived in Dhaka on the Jul 12, was brought in to guide Bangladesh through the playoff ties.

He supervised the national team in training sessions and is scoping out players, who would fit into the national team, in the Premier League.

An official signing was due on Wednesday but the BFF sent out a statement informing the media that the signing would not go ahead, citing that Saintfiet had suffered a stomach ache.

Later, Saintfiet himself confirmed the matter, saying he had not been able to sleep well the previous night due to the pain.

He wanted to focus on the second-round games of the Premier League for the moment.

Reports of Saintfiet closing in on putting pen to paper with the African Super Eagles are at large in numerous media reports.

Contrary to reports in the local media, Saintfiet himself is reported to have shown strong enthusiasm to take charge of Nigeria in an interview with South Africa-based SuperSport.

"Nigeria is my priority and that is why I have not taken up the Bangladesh job. I have postponed the signing," SuperSport quoted him as saying.

"I want to go to the World Cup with Nigeria and not just that, but to reach the semis of the World Cup because they have the quality to do so. I am ready to live in Nigeria."