He made it to the Cup Final after a month

The Slovak coach JOZEF PAVLIK reflects on his job in the club Abahani Chittagong in Bangladesh

Slovak coach Jozef Pavlík, who accepted an offer from Bangladesh at the beginning of spring, has now been in the Asian country for over a month. And it seems he’s prepared his team, Abahani Chattogram, very well during more than 30 training sessions. He has led the team in six matches in the preseason Independence Cup, which is played entirely in the capital city, Dhaka. After three victories came one loss, one draw, and qualification for the semifinals—where on Wednesday he achieved his biggest success so far. His team defeated the top club in the country, Sheikh Russel KC, 4–1 in a penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw in regular time. In the final, Pavlík’s side will face Abahani Dhaka.

Abahani Chattogram won the Bangladeshi league title in 2013 but finished 9th last season. “I didn’t know much about the club. But I didn’t hesitate for a moment,” says Pavlík, who was still under contract with ViOn Zlaté Moravce in the winter. However, through agent Jozef Tokos, he got the opportunity to move to Bangladesh. “I wanted to stay at ViOn. I had even been accepted to begin coaching license studies. But things changed overnight when Mr. Djurič didn’t take me to the training camp. That really hurt my motivation, so I accepted this offer,” he explained.

A country as exotic as Bangladesh often inspires caution in Europeans. “I imagined a big country, lots of people, and chaos—and that’s exactly what I found. It’s their lifestyle, very different, and you have to get used to it. The roads are wild—I wouldn’t dare drive here. I get driven to training. The weather is mostly hot and humid, sometimes there’s a brief rain. We have to adapt our training process to the high temperatures. Sometimes our training options are limited because three groups of students are playing cricket on the field... And if we hit traffic on the way to training, the guys sometimes sit in the bus for an hour—which is not pleasant in this heat.”

Bangladesh is ranked 177th in the FIFA rankings. Its highest ranking was 110th, twenty years ago. “I already had some experience with Asian football. I worked with the late Lacko Totkovič, my good friend, in the Malaysian national team. That’s where I met Ong Kim Swee, who now coaches Malaysia. So I wasn’t afraid—I knew that even with these players, work can be done. Everyone understands English, and they’re very hardworking and eager to learn.”

We asked about the makeup of the team. “I like that we have young guys around 19 who show potential. But I have to gradually change their tactical thinking. There are major weaknesses in defensive work, and attacks are usually started by just booting the ball forward to two attackers who try to break through individually. We also have some national team players, but I take that with a grain of salt, since the national team doesn’t perform well. They recently lost 0–8 in Jordan and came back in a gloomy mood. But I’ve managed to refocus them on the club, and I’m happy with the results so far. The team we beat in the semifinals really tries to play a possession-based game from the back, so I value that victory even more,” said Pavlík, who has already experienced his first earthquake in Bangladesh. “I didn’t feel it that strongly, but the players told me the whole building swayed. They were drinking water and couldn’t hit their mouths. They ran out of the hotel and stayed outside for half an hour—it lasted just a few seconds, but they were shaken.”

Does he have any foreign players? “Yes, four—but only three can play in one match. We have Nigerian center-back Alison Udoka, who played in Finland for five years. He has European habits, is tactically mature, and physically strong. There’s also midfielder Tarik El Djanaby from Morocco, a former teammate of Slovak player Roman Chmelo, who played here for many years. He’s a fully developed player and is used to the local climate.”

Pavlík believes Slovak players could succeed in Bangladesh, but... “The main issue is the climate. I have experience with the heat in Greece, but this is even tougher for Europeans. It’s no coincidence that many players here are from Africa—they adapt quickly,” emphasized Pavlík, who is currently living in a hotel where he has a large, air-conditioned apartment. The coach showed his generous side by housing all four foreign players in it.