B. Sathianathan
B. Sathianathan is a Malaysian football coach and former player. He is currently in charge as a technical director for Sarawak United F.C. work in with E. Elavarasan as a head coach . He is the former head coach of Malaysia Super League club, Selangor F.C. He is also the former head coach for Malaysia national football team and Malaysia U-23 football team. Before becoming the head coach for Malaysia, he was the head coach of the Malaysian Under 23 team.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Bhaskaran R Satiananthan | ||
Date of birth | May 9, 1958 | ||
Place of birth | Perak, Malaysia | ||
Teams managed | |||
Years | Team | ||
1992 | NS FA Gold Cup Team | ||
2006 | MPPJ FC (interim) | ||
2006—2008 | Malaysia U-23 | ||
2007—2009 | Malaysia | ||
2009—2010 | Kelantan FA | ||
2011—2015 | ATM FA | ||
2017—2018 | Felda United F.C. | ||
2018—2020 | Selangor F.C. | ||
2021—2022 |
Sarawak United F.C. (technical director) |
Career
Early in his career, he was the coach for Negeri Sembilan FA Gold Cup team in 1992. He held the assistant coach position for the national Olympic team in 1997-1999 and 2002-2004. He was also the assistant head coach at MPPJ FC in 2006 until the dissolution of the club, and acting as interim head coach for a short period after Michael Feichtenbeiner was relieved of his job.[1]
In 2006, he was selected by Football Association of Malaysia to be the head coach for Malaysia under-23 side in the team preparation for the 2008 Olympic games qualifier. After winning the 2007 Merdeka Tournament, he was selected as the head coach for senior team by the FAM president Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah.
His first match as the head coach was the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier Asian zone against Bahrain. In the match, Malaysia lost 4-1 before draw 0-0 at Shah Alam. After ending the World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign, he then brought the under 23 side to the 2007 SEA Games in Thailand. The under-23 side also failed in the tournament after only managing 1 win, 1 draw and 1 defeat and for the first time since 1999 Malaysia failed to advance into the semifinal.
For 2008, Sathianathan bring the Malaysia best eleven to face Premier League giant Chelsea. Eventually the match was won by Chelsea by 2-0 and the squads did a good fight in the match as Chelsea head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari praise the Malaysia XI for giving a good fight against his team.
In 2008 Merdeka Tournament, Sathianathan again bring Malaysia into the final. Malaysia show impressive performance from the start of the tournament and did not conceded in all Merdeka Tournament match. However Sathianathan team lose 6-5 through a penalty shoot-out against Vietnam in the final.[2]
In 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup, Sathia team start with convincing win over Laos. However, in the last two matches, his team lost 2-3 to Vietnam and beaten by host Thailand 3-0. The lost against the Thai's saw Malaysia exit the competition for the first time since 1998. Rumors also spread that he will be replaced by Indonesia former coach, Peter Withe because of his failure in 2008 AFF Suzuki Cup. However FAM decided to extend his contract for one more year with condition he must improve Malaysia FIFA ranking.[3]
In February 2009, Sathia one-year contract was terminated by FAM, after Malaysia was trashed by United Arab Emirates 5-0 in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification match.[4][5] Subsequently, he coached Kelantan FA from November 2009, and guided the team to 2010 Malaysia Cup triumph. He was forced to leave his post after being handed a 6-month coaching ban by FAM from January 2011 for criticizing the national football body, later taking up the post of CEO of Kelantan FA coaching.[6]
He was appointed the coach of ATM FA on November 2011. Under Sathianathan helm, ATM FA won the 2012 Malaysia Premier League, and an automatic promotion to the 2013 Malaysia Super League. Sathianathan succeeds in maintaining ATM as a Super League team for 3 seasons, and also a finalist of the 2013 Malaysia Cup, until he was relieved from his duties in April 2015.[7]
Sathianathan were announced as the new Felda United F.C. head coach in February 2017.[8] Under his helm, Felda secured 3rd place in the 2017 Malaysia Super League and semi-finals of the 2017 Malaysia Cup, and he were awarded Best Coach of the League by FAM for that year.[9] Even though Felda has been demoted for failing to acquire Super League license for the next season,[10] Sathianathan succeeded in guiding the team to win the 2018 Malaysia Premier League and promotion back to Super League at the first attempt.[11] After Felda's 2018 Malaysia Cup journey ended in the quarter-finals, and following restructuring of the club management, Sathianathan announced that he will not continue coaching the team after the end of his contract that year.[12][13]
On 22 November 2018, Sathianathan was announced as Selangor FA new head coach in the team's Twitter posting.[14] The announcement was made official the next day, in a live session with Sathianathan via Selangor's official Facebook page.[15]
On 21 September 2020, Sathianathan was sacked as Selangor FA's head coach due to a string of poor results after the resumption of the Malaysian Super League competition from the Covid-19 enforced break.[16][17]
Personal life and views
Regarding the continuation of playing in the Malaysia Football League throughout the Ramadhan fasting period , he mentioned that “Football leagues in Arabian countries (where the Muslim population are sometimes bigger than Malaysia) also don’t stop during Ramadhan. In fact, the festivities spirit are felt on the pitch too," as reported by FOX Sports Asia in an article.
Honours
Malaysia U-23
- Champions 2007 Merdeka Tournament
- Runners-up 2008 Merdeka Tournament
Kelantan FA
- Champions 2010 Malaysia Cup
ATM FA
- Champions 2012 Malaysia Premier League
Felda United FC
- Champions 2018 Malaysia Premier League
References
- Eric Samuel (1 February 2006). "MPPJ to draw up new post for German coach". The Star Online. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- "Heartbreak As Malaysia Lose To Vietnam In Penalty Shootout". BERNAMA. 26 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-16.
- "Peluang kedua buat Sathia". Utusan Malaysia. 16 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-16.(in Malay)
- "FAM Terminate Coach Sathianathan, Team Manager Chin Aun". BERNAMA. 1 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
- "Malaysia sack Sathianathan". FIFA.com. February 1, 2009. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- "KAFA appoint Sathianathan as CEO for coaching". BERNAMA via Arena.my. January 26, 2011. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
- http://www.espn.com/soccer/blog-football-asia/story/2547446/msl-atm-want-sathia-back-in-charge
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-02-06. Retrieved 2018-02-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- https://www.nst.com.my/sports/football/2017/12/317667/sathianathan-gunning-more-success-felda
- https://www.nst.com.my/sports/football/2017/12/310693/felda-coach-accepts-demotion
- https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/football/2018/07/29/the-fight-never-ends-felda-still-in-fighters-mode-as-they-wrap-up-campaign/
- https://www.hmetro.com.my/arena/2018/10/388030/bye-bye-felda
- http://www.utusan.com.my/sukan/bola-sepak/sathianathan-tinggalkan-felda-united-1.771342
- https://www.goal.com/en/news/b-sathianathan-appointment-selangor-fa-completes-interesting/19qqkpohguwpl1xcs43t6zupyu
- https://www.nst.com.my/sports/football/2018/11/433937/i-want-selangor-fans-smile-again-said-new-coach-sathianathan
- https://www.bharian.com.my/sukan/bola/2020/09/733596/selangor-pecat-sathianathan
- https://www.malaymail.com/news/sports/2020/09/21/sathianathan-no-longer-red-giants-head-coach/1905266