Quick Facts
Biography
B. Sathianathan is a Malaysian football head coach and a former footballer. He is 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. His latest job was as head coach of ATM FA in the Malaysian Super League from 2011 until 2015.
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.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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.
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
Individual
- National Football Award
Best Coach:2010&2012