The Bhutanese Leading the way.
A request of around Nu 16 mn is being put up to the government
After two historical wins against Sri Lanka, Bhutan’s national football team is now in the second round of the FIFA World Cup where it will end up playing around eight matches of which around four matches would be in foreign destinations. The matches will start in June 2015 and go on till March 2016.
The foreign travel expenses and a team preparation budget means that Bhutan’s World Cup budget ranges from Nu 25 mn to Nu 30 mn. The variation here depends on the destination as more far off countries would entail more travel expenses.
Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) President Ugen Tsechup Dorji said that while the BFF can manage a certain portion of the funds on its own it has put up a request of around Nu 16 mn from the government.
He said the proposal at the moment was given to the Bhutan Olympics Committee (BOC) which as the parent body of sports in Bhutan will formally present it to the government.
“If the matches with other countries are closer home then it will cheaper but if it is father off like Japan or South Korea then it will be more expensive,’ said the President.
The national team will also have to travel to play practice matches in other countries. The President said that BFF is getting in touch with middle-east countries for such matches.
Teams would also have to travel a bit early to the destination to get acclimatized to the conditions in the host countries.
The funds will also be required for expenses like diet, training uniform, equipment etc.
The BFF President said that overall indication from the government was very positive.
The Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said, “I have not received any proposal yet that I know of, but I will be meeting the national team to congratulate them. Then I will have a separate meeting with the organizers, and there we can discuss and see what needs to be done.”
The proposal from BOC first needs to go the Finance Ministry. The Finance Minister Lyonpo Namgay Dorji said that when the proposal comes formally to the MoF a finance level committee would discuss the issue and then place it before the cabinet which would take the final decision.
The draw date for round two of the FIFA World Cup 2018 will be on 14th April 2015 in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Asia’s 40 teams will be divided into eight groups of five teams each and each team will have to play eight matches against four teams with four matches at home and four matches away.
