Kings without a head coach for AFC Challenge League!

Bashundhara Kings are set to face Syria's Al-Karamah in their opening match of the AFC Challenge League in Doha tonight. However, just a day before the crucial encounter, the club found themselves in a cloud of uncertainty surrounding their head coach situation, which threatens to overshadow the team's on-field preparations.

Only a week and a half ago, Bashundhara Kings' president Imrul Hassan confirmed that Brazilian coach Sergio Farias would be joining the club and was expected to arrive in Qatar to take charge of the team ahead of the AFC campaign. But in a surprising turn of events, Iraqi football club Duhok SC posted pictures on social media on Monday, confirming their signing of Farias, creating a wave of confusion and concern among fans and football officials back in Bangladesh.

Once dubbed as the first truly professional club in Bangladesh, the new powerhouse have been embroiled in all sorts of trouble in the post-August 5 era. Some of their biggest stars have been let go last season and recently former coach Valeriu Tita lodged a complaint against the club with FIFA over pending salaries and bonuses. He was joined in the action by a former fitness trainer.   

The team went to Doha two days before the crucial fixture, on the back of only two weeks of training with the locals and without having ever trained with the foreign recruits.

The players and officials left for Doha without having an interaction with the media. The team's two assistant coaches – Mahabub Hossain Roksy and Syed Golam Jilani – said they are not authorised to speak to media while the club's president Imrul Hasan did not attend to repeated calls and text messages from media houses, including this one.

Now without a head coach, Bashundhara Kings could be in line for an AFC disciplinary action as its competitions mandate at least an AFC Pro licence holder to sit in the dugout. But with both Roksy and Jilani only possessing AFC A licences, it remains to be seen who sits in Kings' dugout on Tuesday night.

The club's media department has only shared a statement from team captain Topu Barman, who spoke during the pre-match press conference, where a head coach's presence is normally mandatory under AFC regulations