PFF hires Brazilian football trainer

KARACHI: Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has hired the services of a Brazilian trainer Jose Roberto Portella, a senior official of the federation confirmed on Friday.

“Yes, we have hired a Brazilian trainer,” the official said.

When asked for how long his services have been hired, the official said that whenever there would be any camp he would be with the team.

This is the second major decision the PFF took in hardly a month time as the federation also hired the services of a Brazilian coach Jose Antonio Nogueira who also shortlisted players during the National Challenge Cup for forming teams for the international events. Both Nogueira and Portella belong to Sao Paulo.

The PFF source said that Portella is a qualified trainer and has already worked with different clubs in Brazil. “It is expected that he will arrive in Lahore a couple of days before the start of the national camp,” the source said.

A special trainer is the major requirement of football. A trainer is the integral part of the support staff of a coach and he acts under the special instructions of the coach. Meanwhile, the PFF has almost given final touches to the national camp which is more likely to be held in Lahore on May 25.

The camp is being held to prepare the teams for the Asian Games and SAFF Championship to be held later this summer. The Asian Games are penciled in for August 18 to September 2 in Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang while the SAFF Championship would be conducted in Bangladesh from September 4-15.

Brazilian coach Nogueira would be working on both senior and Under-23 teams at the same time. In the Asian Games an Under-23 team, with only three senior players, will be fielded while in SAFF Championship complete senior team can be fielded.

According to the sources as many as 48 home-grown players have been invited to the camp to be held at a yet to be decided venue at the Punjab capital.

“There are a few options about the venue where the team would train and final decision will be made by Monday,” the source said. “The PFF president will also come tomorrow and the things would be finalised.”

In the first phase of the camp all home-grown players would be trained. In the second phase, which will begin after mid-June, foreign-based players would also be seen in action.

However, the accommodation issue has been resolved as it has been decided to board the players at the Sports Board Punjab (SBP) hostel.