News

Federation under normalization or interim committee due to football Administration’s negligence?

Published

3 years ago

August 13, 2022

Editor

A few days ago, the World Football Federation (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) asked the Sri Lanka Football Federation about the progress of the process of changing the existing constitution to comply with the rules of the game in this country as well as regional and global body laws and regulations.

On April 11, 2022, Kenny Jean-Marie (The Chief Member Association Officer of FIFA) and Vahid Kardany (The Deputy General Secretary, Member Association of AFC) jointly signed a letter and sent an email to inform the Sri Lankan Football administration to speed up the process which is delayed by two months.

The tenure of the current administration ended on June 30, 2022. However, FFSL has not provided any update to AFC or FIFA regarding the constitutional amendment or election.

The administration showed the reasons for this, at the recently 72nd FIFA Congress held in Doha, they indicated that the process was delayed due to the financial crisis and political instability in the country.

But the Football Federation continues its tenure for an additional two months through a special gazette issued by the Ministry of Sports to the local associations. Further mentioned, you have been instructed to hold elections before or on the day of the expiry of the term. This has been specifically mentioned in the letter sent by FIFA and the AFC.

However, according to inside sources, it has been learned that the Football Federation ignored the instructions given to them. According to the source, the Sports Ministry had told the Football Federation on three occasions in the last few months to prepare the constitutional amendment and other legal requirements, but they have deliberately ignored this.

Some members of the current Executive Committee are deeply concerned about the financial privileges and misuse of the football federation’s money under the current administration.

An extract from the Sunday Times

පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයේ නොසැලකිල්ල හේතුවෙන් සම්මේලනය සාමාන්‍යකරණ හෝ අතුරු කමිටුවක් යටතට?

මීට දින කිහිපයකට ඉහතදී ලෝක පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය (FIFA) හා ආසියානු පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය (AFC) විසින් මෙරට ක්‍රීඩා නීති රීති මෙන්ම කලාපීය හා ගෝලීය නීති රෙගුලාසි වලට අනුකූල වන ලෙස පවතින ව්‍යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියේ ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබඳව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයෙන් විමසා ඇත.

2022 අප්‍රේල් මස 11 වන දින Kenny Jean-Marie ( The Chief Member Association Officer of FIFA ) හා Vahid Kardany ( The Deputy General Secretary, Member Association of AFC ) ඒකාබද්ධව අත්සන් කර යැවූ විද්‍යුත් ලිපියකින් ඔවුන් මෙරට පරිපාලනය දැනුවත් කර ඇත්තේ එම මස දෙකක් පමණ ප්‍රමාද වූ ක්‍රියාවලිය කඩිනම් කරන ලෙසය.

වත්මන් පරිපාලනයේ ධූර කාලය 2022 ජුනි මස 30 දින සිට අවසන් වි ඇත. එනමුත් FFSL විසින් ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය පිලිබදව හෝ මැතිවරණයක් පිළිබඳ කිසිඳු යාවත්කාලීන කිරීමක් AFC හෝ FIFA ආයතන වෙත සිදුකර නොමැත.

මීට හේතු ලෙස පසුගියදා දෝහා හි පැවති 72 වන FIFA කොංග්‍රසයේ දී ඔවුන් පෙන්වා ඇත්තේ මෙරට පවතින මූල්‍ය අර්බුදය හා දේශපාලනික අස්ථාවරත්වය හේතුවෙන් මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය ප්‍රමාද වූ බව දන්වා ඇති බවටයි.

එහෙත් පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය අතිරේක මාස දෙකක පමණ කාලයක් සිය ධූර කාලය පවත්වාගෙන යන අතර පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය වෙත ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යාංශය නිකුත් කර ඇති විශේෂිත ගැසට් පත්‍රයක් මගින් ඔබට එම ධුර කාලය අවසන් වීමට පෙර හෝ එදින මැතිවරණ පැවැත්විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් ලබා දී ඇත. මේ බව ලෝක පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය හා ආසියානු පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය විසින් එවූ ලිපියේ විශේෂයෙන් සඳහන් කර ඇත.

කෙසේ වෙතත් අභ්‍යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග වලට අනුව පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය ඔවුන්ට ලබා දී ඇති උපදෙස් නොසලකා හරිමින් කටයුතු කළ බවට දැනගන්නට ලැබී තිබේ. එම මූලාශ්‍රයට අනුව ක්‍රීඩා අමාත්‍යංශය විසින් පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයේ අවස්ථා තුනකදී පසුගිය මාස කිහිපය තුළ එම ව්‍යස්ථා සංශෝධනය හා අනෙක් නීතිමය අවශ්‍යතා සූදානම් කරන ලෙස දන්වා තිබුණත් ඔවුන් මෙය සිතාමතා නොසලකා හැර ඇත.

වර්තමාන පරිපාලනයේ සිටින ඇතැම් සාමාජිකයන් ද, පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය තුළ සිදුවන මුදල් හා වරප්‍රසාද අවභාවිතාව පිළිබඳව දැඩි කනස්සල්ලකින් පසු වන බව ය.

Sunday times උපුටාගැනීමක්

கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்தின் அலட்சியத்தால் கூட்டமைப்பு இயல்பாக்க அல்லது இடைக்கால குழுவின் கீழ் செல்லுமா?

சில நாட்களுக்கு முன்னர், உலக கால்பந்து சம்மேளனம் (FIFA) மற்றும் ஆசிய கால்பந்து சம்மேளனம் (AFC) ஆகியவை இலங்கை கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்திடம் அரசியலமைப்பை மாற்றுவதற்கான செயல்முறையின் முன்னேற்றம் குறித்து வினாவின. அத்துடன் இந்த நாட்டின் விளையாட்டு விதிகளுக்கு இணங்க மற்றும் பிராந்திய மற்றும் உலகளாவிய காட்பந்து சட்டங்களுக்கு இணைவாக அரசியலைப்பு மாற்றங்கள் நடைபெற வெண்டும் எனவம் குறிப்பிட்டனர்.

ஏப்ரல் 11, 2022 அன்று, கென்னி ஜீன் மேரி (ஃபிஃபாவின் தலைமை உறுப்பினர் சங்க அதிகாரி) மற்றும் வஹித் கர்தானி (துணைப் பொதுச் செயலாளர், AFC இன் உறுப்பினர் சங்கம்) ஆகியோர் கூட்டாக ஒரு கடிதத்தில் கையெழுத்திட்டு, இலங்கை கால்பந்து நிர்வாகத்திற்குத் மின்னஞ்சல் மூலம் அனுப்பினர். அக்கடிதத்தில் இரண்டு மாதங்கள் தாமதமாகி இருந்த அரையாசியலமைப்பு மாற்றும் செயல்முறை கடினப்படுத்த தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது.

தற்போதைய நிர்வாகத்தின் பதவிக்காலம் ஜூன் 30, 2022 அன்று முடிவடைந்த போதிலும். அரசியலமைப்புத் திருத்தம் அல்லது தேர்தல் தொடர்பாக AFC அல்லது FIFA க்கு FFSL எந்த தகவல்களையும் வழங்கவில்லை.

தோஹாவில் நடைபெற்ற 72 வது FIFA காங்கிரஸில், இலங்கை காட்பந்து நிர்வாகம் இதற்கான காரணங்களாக சமீபத்தில், நாட்டில் நிதி நெருக்கடி மற்றும் அரசியல் ஸ்திரமின்மை காரணமாக செயல்முறை தாமதமானது என்று அவர்கள் சுட்டிக்காட்டினர்.

ஆனால் விளையாட்டு அமைச்சினால் உள்ளூர் சங்கங்களுக்கு வெளியிடப்பட்ட விசேட வர்த்தமானி மூலம் கால்பந்தாட்ட சம்மேளனம் தனது பதவிக்காலத்தை மேலும் இரண்டு மாதங்களுக்கு நீடித்து கொண்டது. FIFA மற்றும் AFC அனுப்பிய கடிதத்தில் பதவிக்காலம் முடிவடைவதற்கு முன்னரோ அல்லது அன்றோ தேர்தலை நடத்துமாறு அறிவுறுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது.

எவ்வாறாயினும், உதைபந்தாட்ட சம்மேளனம் தமக்கு வழங்கப்பட்ட அறிவுறுத்தல்களை புறக்கணித்துள்ளதாக உள்ளக வட்டாரங்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. அரசியலமைப்புத் திருத்தம் மற்றும் இதர சட்டத் தேவைகளைத் தயாரிக்குமாறு கடந்த சில மாதங்களில் மூன்று தடவைகள் கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்திடம் விளையாட்டு அமைச்சகம் கூறியிருந்தும், அவர்கள் வேண்டுமென்றே இதனைப் புறக்கணித்துள்ளதாக அந்த வட்டாரம் தெரிவித்துள்ளது.

தற்போதைய நிர்வாகக் குழுவில் உள்ள சில உறுப்பினர்கள் நிதிச் சலுகைகள் மற்றும் தற்போதைய நிர்வாகத்தின் கீழ் கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்தின் பணம் தவறாகப் பயன்படுத்தப்படுவது குறித்து ஆழ்ந்த கவலை கொண்டுள்ளனர்.

ஆதாரம் சண்டே டைம்ஸ்

Football

Sri Lanka Women Finish Qualifiers with 0 Goals, 20 Conceded – Who Will Take Responsibility?

Published

3 days ago

July 5, 2025

Editor

Colombo, July 3 – Sri Lanka Women’s National Football Team wrapped up their AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers campaign with a third straight defeat — a 2-0 loss to Laos — confirming their position at the bottom of Group F, with 0 wins, 0 goals scored, and 18 conceded in just three games.

But beyond the scorelines lies a far more serious issue: a complete collapse of women’s football development in Sri Lanka. And this time, the blame does not lie on one individual — but on a system that has failed the sport, from top to bottom.

Match-by-Match Recap

Match 1: Sri Lanka 0 – 10 Uzbekistan

Possession: 30%
Shots on Target: 0
xG: 0.0 vs Uzbekistan’s 3.60
A game that exposed a lack of preparation, structure, and fitness from the very start.

Match 2: Sri Lanka 0 – 8 Nepal

Possession: 50%
Defensive errors gifted goals, including a hat-trick by Sabitra Bhandari.
xG: Nepal 3.76 vs Sri Lanka 0.60
Tactical breakdown: Midfield collapsed under pressure, backline failed to close space.

Match 3: Sri Lanka 0 – 2 Laos

Possession: 50%
Shots on Target: 5
xG: 2.56 (Laos) vs 1.08 (Sri Lanka)
A more balanced performance, but defensive lapses in the 73rd and 90+2 minutes led to defeat. Sri Lanka couldn’t convert chances despite their best game statistically.

Final Group Standings – Group F

Team	MP	GF	GA	GD	Points
🇳🇵 Nepal	2	17	0	+17	6
🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	2	17	0	+17	6
🇱🇦 Laos	2	2	16	-14	0
🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	3	0	20	-20	0

Tactical Issues Across All Matches

No clear formation or transition play.
Lack of defensive coordination — players failed to track runners, especially on the flanks.
No attacking identity — only 1.08 xG across three games.
In-game management absent — few substitutions or tactical shifts despite being outplayed.

While public criticism often targets the President of the Football Federation, this decline in women’s football runs deeper:

Who Is Accountable? Not Just the President

Women’s Football Committee:

Failed to organize any domestic tournament in recent years.
Selected the squad via open trials, with no league performance data to back selections.
No consistent training camps or fitness programs.

Executive Committee:

Remains silent on the recurring failures.
No inquiries, reviews, or structural reforms have followed Sri Lanka’s repeated humiliations — including the U20 Women’s SAFF defeat earlier this year.

Technical & Development Staff:

No tactical framework or youth development.
No modern coaching methods or international exposure for players.

The Bigger Problem: Silence and Stagnation

Sri Lanka is not just losing matches — it’s losing direction. The current state of women’s football is not the result of one bad campaign. It’s the product of years of neglect, political appointments, and a failure to treat women’s football with equal priority.

Even now, there is no explanation from the Executive Committee on how the women’s team was prepared or what plans exist for recovery.

Time for a Reset, Not Excuses

If Sri Lanka is serious about competing in international football, the following must be addressed:

✅ A national women’s league
✅ Provincial and school-level competitions
✅ Professional coaching staff and structured fitness programs
✅ Regular international friendlies and camps
✅ Transparent selection processes based on performance, not politics

🔚 Conclusion

Sri Lanka’s 2026 AFC campaign should not just be remembered for the scorelines — but as a call for change. It is time for every stakeholder — from the Women’s Committee to the Executive — to reflect, respond, and rebuild.

News

Sri Lanka Set to Face UAE in Crucial Rugby Clash Tomorrow in Colombo

Published

4 days ago

July 4, 2025

Editor

The Sri Lanka national rugby team will lock horns with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a much-anticipated international rugby encounter set to take place today (July 4) at the iconic Racecourse Ground, Colombo.

As part of their final preparations, the Sri Lankan team held an intensive training session today under the watchful eyes of the coaching staff. The team looked sharp, focused, and ready to bring their A-game to home soil.

This clash promises to be a key test for the Tuskers as they look to strengthen their footing in the regional rugby scene and gain momentum ahead of upcoming international competitions. UAE, a rising force in Asian rugby, will also be eyeing a big performance away from home.

Both teams are expected to field strong lineups, and the match is anticipated to draw significant interest from local fans eager to witness top-tier rugby action.

📍 Match Info
🗓️ Date: July 4, 2025
📍 Venue: Racecourse Rugby Grounds, Colombo
🕒 Kick-off: TBA

Stay tuned for live updates, photos, and post-match coverage on Sri Lankan Sports TV.

Football

Sri Lanka Women Crushed 8-0 by Nepal in AFC Qualifiers – Tactical Collapse Raises Alarm

Published

5 days ago

July 2, 2025

Editor

Colombo, July 2 – Sri Lanka Women’s National Football Team suffered another brutal defeat in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers, going down 8-0 to a confident and clinical Nepalese side. Coming just days after a 10-0 hammering by Uzbekistan, this latest loss highlights deeper tactical, technical, and structural issues within Sri Lanka’s women’s football system.

Full-Time Score: Sri Lanka 0 – 8 Nepal

Half-Time: 0 – 4
Venue: Group F – AFC Women’s Asian Cup 2026 Qualifiers

Key Match Statistics

Stat	Sri Lanka Women	Nepal Women
Possession	50%	50%
Total Shots	4	26
Shots on Target	3	18
Shots off Target	1	8
Expected Goals (xG)	0.60	3.76
Corners	0	14
Fouls	4	6
Cards	0	0
Offsides	0	3

Tactical Breakdown – Why Sri Lanka Lost 8-0

Despite the possession being even at 50%, Sri Lanka was thoroughly outplayed. This is a classic case where possession stats mislead the reality on the pitch.

1. Poor Defensive Organization

Sri Lanka conceded 14 corners and 18 shots on target, indicating that Nepal constantly penetrated both flanks and delivered into the box unchallenged.
There was no compact defensive line, and Nepal exploited space behind Sri Lanka’s fullbacks repeatedly.

2. Ineffective Midfield Structure

While Sri Lanka held possession equally, it was largely passive and in non-threatening zones.
Nepal, on the other hand, converted their possession into 3.76 xG, showing how effective and vertical their transitions were.

3. Repeated Failures in Closing Down Key Players

Sabitra Bhandari scored a hat-trick within 26 minutes (14’, 36’, 40’) and was left unmarked multiple times.
Nepal’s attackers were given space and time to shoot – evident from the 18 shots on target.

4. No Offensive Threat

Sri Lanka managed only 4 shots in the entire game, with an xG of just 0.60.
With no corners and no real pressing, the team offered nothing going forward, allowing Nepal to push numbers up comfortably.

Back-to-Back Heavy Losses: Structural Failures Exposed

This defeat comes after a 10-0 loss to Uzbekistan, meaning Sri Lanka has now conceded 18 goals in two matches without scoring once.

This isn’t just a reflection of players’ on-field performance — it’s a glaring indictment of:

FFSL’s failure to conduct any women’s football league in years
A rushed team selection based on a short trial, without competitive match practice
No structured coaching program or international exposure
Lack of scouting, fitness programs, and tactical planning

Nepal, though not an Asian powerhouse, had better coaching structure, player chemistry, and clear tactics, which led to their dominance.

What’s Next for Sri Lanka?

If the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) and the Ministry of Sports continue to ignore these warning signs, Sri Lanka risks becoming irrelevant in women’s football on the Asian stage.

What’s needed:

✅ A proper national women’s league
✅ Regular youth-level competitions and scouting
✅ Appointing qualified coaching staff with modern tactical knowledge
✅ Consistent international exposure for players

Conclusion

An 8-0 defeat to Nepal isn’t just a bad result — it’s a mirror held up to a broken system. Unless real change is implemented beyond symbolic participation, these results will become Sri Lanka’s norm in women’s football.