Sri Lanka-Maldives co-host SAFF Championship

Bernard Perera

The eighth South Asian Football Federation Championship which commenced as the SAFF Cup and later dubbed as South Asian Gold Cup held twice is scheduled to commence on June 4 in Colombo, (Sri Lanka) and Male (Maldives).

The two countries will host the two groups which consist of four teams each. The Group 'A' includes India, the defending champs, Pakistan, Nepal and Maldives which host this group, while Group 'B' played in Colombo will have Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and the hosts Sri Lanka. These details were disclosed by Chrysantha Perera CEO FFSL at a press briefing held yesterday at the Football House, Colombo.

The Championship is due to commence on 3rd June in Male with the opening ceremony and it will conclude with the final in Colombo on June 14 with a colourful closing ceremony.

According to CEO, the World Sport Group, the Singaporean firm has once again come forward to sponsor this mega event of the South Asian Region which is also known as the South Asian Football World Cup.

The winners are to carry away the prestigious SAFF Championship Cup and a purse worth 50,000 US Dollars, while the runners get 25,000 Dollars and the two losing semi finalists will be awarded 10,000 dollars each.

Perera said that the Championship which was scheduled for last December had to be postponed with clashing of the World Cup qualifying round matches. This postponement has caused financial problems as the estimated cost has skyrocketed, and the organisers are negotiating with firms to find co-sponsors.

He said already the Holcim Lanka Ltd has made their way to become co-sponsors. He further said that with Sri Lanka hosting the tourney we are with a slight advantage. Gihan de Silva Vice President Marketing Holcim Lanka Ltd and Indika Jayaweera Marketing Manager Holcim Lanka Ltd represented the co-sponsors at the press briefing and presented cheque to the CEO.

Perera said that the Lankan squad is in peak form and hope to continue with the same form for this tourney. Lankan team is confident as they have performed well during the past few months. In fact after undergoing a two week training stint in Korea made the way to final round of the AFC President's Cup which is to be held in Hyderabad, India in September.

This they did it in Taiwan maintaining an unbeaten team.

The Lankan squad comprising of 30 players are under the guidance of the National Coach Jang Jung from Korea.

According to Perera, few players were on the sick list but two important players skipper Chathura Maduranga Weerasinghe and E.B. Channa have recovered well and have joined the squad in practices.

The other two players Mohamed Raheem and Nadeeka Pushpakumara are yet to recover.

Answering a question he said out of the thirty players twenty will be named on the previous day of the match soon after the Managers meeting.

He also said that around thirty journalists are to arrive for Group 'B' matches but more would arrive from the semi final stage onwards. Press box has been developed to cater to foreign and local journalists.

He also thanked the Stadium officials for listening to FFSL grievances with regard to floodlights and ground conditions.

The officials are busy doing the ground work to enable the FFSL to conduct the event on a grand note.

The two host countries if they qualify for semis will play their game on home soil, but the host team which fails to be on top of the group will have to travel to meet the winner.