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

Published

4 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

Cricket

Sri Lanka Stunned by Zimbabwe Despite 178 as Bowling Falters in Colombo

Published

1 day ago

February 19, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s T20 World Cup campaign suffered a major setback as they went down to Zimbabwe by six wickets at the R. Premadasa Stadium — a result few predicted before the first ball was bowled.

After winning the toss and opting to bat, Sri Lanka posted what appeared to be a competitive 178/7. But defensive bowling and a lack of control in key moments allowed Zimbabwe to chase down 179 with three balls to spare, finishing on 182/4 in 19.3 overs.

Where Sri Lanka Lost the Game

Strong Start, Poor Finish with the Bat

Sri Lanka flew out of the blocks, scoring 61 runs in the Powerplay.

Pathum Nissanka led the charge with a fluent 62 off 41 balls.
The opening stand raced to 54 inside five overs.

However, momentum dipped sharply in the middle overs:

Kusal Mendis struggled (14 off 20).
The run rate slowed between overs 7–14.
Despite a late push from Pavan Rathnayake (44 off 25), Sri Lanka managed only 28 runs in the final three overs.

From a position of dominance at 108/2, they could not push beyond the 185–190 mark — a total that, in hindsight, proved costly.

Failure to Strike Early with the Ball

Zimbabwe’s chase was built on a solid foundation:

55 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket.
69-run opening stand removed early pressure.

Sri Lanka never truly regained control.

The Raza–Bennett Counterattack

The turning point came when captain Sikandar Raza launched a brutal counterattack:

45 off 26 balls
4 sixes
50-run partnership in just 27 balls

Brian Bennett anchored the chase superbly with an unbeaten 63 off 48.

Raza’s assault in overs 15–18 shifted the momentum completely, taking the game away from Sri Lanka just when it seemed evenly poised.

Bowling Concerns Under Lights

Sri Lanka’s bowling lacked penetration:

Maheesh Theekshana conceded 47 in 3.3 overs (13.42 economy).
No early breakthroughs from the seamers.
Only one Powerplay wicket across both innings combined.

On a Colombo surface that slowed slightly, Zimbabwe adapted better, rotating strike efficiently before accelerating at the death.

Key Numbers That Hurt Sri Lanka

Zimbabwe Powerplay: 55/0
Sri Lanka Powerplay wickets: 0
Zimbabwe scored 150 in just 16.1 overs
Sri Lanka conceded 9.33 runs per over in the chase

What This Means

Sri Lanka entered as favourites, especially batting first at home. But tactical lapses, middle-over stagnation, and expensive spells under pressure proved decisive.

Zimbabwe, disciplined with the ball and fearless in the chase, fully deserved their two points.

For Sri Lanka, questions now emerge:

Is the bowling attack lacking bite?
Are middle overs becoming a recurring concern?
Was 178 ever going to be enough on this surface?

With tougher fixtures ahead in the T20 World Cup, Sri Lanka must regroup quickly — because performances like this could derail their campaign early.

Cricket

Sri Lanka Sweats on Pathirana Injury; Hasaranga Comeback on the Cards

Published

2 days ago

February 18, 2026

Editor

Sri Lanka’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign has suffered a major setback, with fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana likely to miss the remainder of the tournament due to injury.

The 23-year-old sustained a calf injury during Sri Lanka’s Group B encounter against Australia on Monday at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. The incident occurred in his opening over when, after delivering the fourth ball, Pathirana suddenly pulled up clutching his left calf before collapsing to the ground in visible discomfort.

Team physiotherapists rushed onto the field as concerned teammates gathered around. The pacer was unable to leave the field without assistance, immediately raising concerns about the severity of the injury. Captain Dasun Shanaka completed the over in his absence.

Shortly after, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) confirmed that Pathirana would take no further part in the match. In a brief statement, SLC said the bowler had experienced discomfort in his left calf and would undergo medical scans for a full assessment.

Major Blow to Pace Attack

Initial indications suggest the injury could rule Pathirana out for the rest of the World Cup — a significant loss for Sri Lanka’s bowling unit. Known for his slingy action and deadly yorkers, especially at the death, Pathirana has been one of Sri Lanka’s most reliable T20 strike bowlers.

If ruled out, team management is expected to consider Dilshan Madushanka or Nuwan Thushara as potential replacements. While both offer pace and variety, replacing Pathirana’s unique skillset will be a challenge.

Hasaranga Return Under Discussion

In a parallel development, Sri Lanka are reportedly exploring the possibility of bringing Wanindu Hasaranga back into the squad as he continues recovery from a hamstring injury.

Although Hasaranga has not yet regained full match fitness, officials are said to be evaluating whether he could feature later in the tournament — particularly if Sri Lanka qualify for the Super Eight stage.

With their final group match effectively a dead rubber, Sri Lanka have a short window to reassess their injury situation and make strategic decisions. The team management is likely to wait for clearer medical reports before confirming any squad changes.

As the tournament enters a decisive phase, Sri Lanka’s hopes may depend as much on fitness updates as on performances on the field.

Cricket

Colombo Set for High-Voltage India–Pakistan Night Battle

Published

6 days ago

February 15, 2026

Editor

ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup

Colombo is preparing for one of cricket’s biggest nights as India and Pakistan meet in a marquee clash of the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup at the R. Premadasa Stadium on Sunday.

Beyond tactics and statistics, this is a contest built on history and pride. With both teams in form and World Cup ambitions on the line, Sunday night promises a high-quality contest under the Colombo lights.