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Road to Football Glory: Team Dacshitha Unveils Unwavering Commitment to FFSL
In a significant announcement at the “Road to Football Glory” Media Conference, Team Dacshitha has reaffirmed its steadfast resolve to proceed as planned in the upcoming Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) elections. Team Dacshitha will proudly field 13 candidates, presenting a united front to the football stakeholders.
Presidential Candidate Dacshitha Sumathipala: “I am confident that I will take my place as FFSL President on September 30, 2023. It’s crucial to consider the FFSL Statutes and the requests of the Electoral and Appeal Committee, along with the way their interpretations have unfolded. It’s important to note that this election will proceed based on the list, not individual posts.”
Vice Presidential Candidate Rohitha Fernando: “We stand as one cohesive team, fully confident in our ability to secure victory. The football leagues are well aware of the challenges our sport has faced and who is accountable for them.”
Executive Committee Candidate T Suthagar: “Coming from a banking background, I assure you that we will put an end to corruption in football starting September 30.”
Executive Committee Female Candidate Hashini Ariyarathne: “As a former National player, I’m acutely aware of the stagnation in women’s football development. We will implement a comprehensive plan to revitalize women’s football and ensure it follows the right path.”
Executive Committee Candidate U Nihal Perera: “As an Attorney at Law, I must express concerns about the perceived bias in the decisions of the Electoral and Appeal Committee, which appears to favor another individual.”
In a collective statement, Team Dacshitha emphasized their commitment to moving forward with their planned initiatives, highlighting the urgency of reforming Sri Lankan football
The “Road to Football Glory” Media Conference provided a platform for Team Dacshitha to address the football stakeholders and communicate their unwavering dedication to the sport’s betterment. With a unified vision and a determined team, they are poised to lead Sri Lankan football into a new era.
About Team Dacshitha
Team Dacshitha comprises a diverse group of individuals dedicated to rejuvenating Sri Lankan football. Their collective vision and mission aim to bring about a positive transformation within the sport, ensuring its growth, integrity, and success.
ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දු සම්මේලනය වෙත යන ගමනේ පෙර ගමන්කරු ලෙස නොසැලෙන කැපවීමෙන් සහ අධිෂ්ඨානයෙන් ඉදිරියටම යන දක්ෂිත කණ්ඩායම
පාපන්දු අභිමානය කරා යන ගමනේ මාධය හමුවේදි සැළකිය යුතු නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් දක්ෂිත කණ්ඩායම එළැඹෙන ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දු සම්මේලනයේ නිළවරණයේ දි සැළසුම් කර ඇති පරිදි ඉදිරියට යාමට සිය ස්ථිර අධිෂ්ඨානය තහවුරු කර ඇත. ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දුවේ හෙට දවස උදෙසා තීන්දු තීරණ ගැනීමට දක්ෂ අභිමානවත් අපේක්ෂයන් 13 ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.
සභාපති අපේක්ෂක දක්ෂිත සුමතිපාල: 2023 සැප්තැම්බර් 30 වන දින නව සභාපතිවරයා ලෙස මා පත්වන බව මට පූර්ණ විශ්වාසයි. නව ප්රඟප්ති හා මැතිවරණ සහ අභියාචනා කමිටුවේ ඉල්ලීම් සහ ඒවායේ අර්ථකතන දිගහැර ඇති ආකරය සලකා බැලීම ඉතා වැදගත් වේ. මෙම නිළවරණය තනි පුද්ගල තනතුරු නොව ලැයිස්තුව මත පදනම් ව සිදුවනු ඇති බව සැලකිල්ලට ගැනීම වැදගත් ය. ගරා වැටුණු පාපන්දුව නගා සිටුවීමේදි මා පසුපස දැවැන්ත කණ්ඩායමක් ඇත. මෙහිදී අප තාවකාලික භාරකරුවන් මිස අයිතිකරුවන් නොවේ. පාපන්දුව පිරිසිදු කර නිසි පරිපාලනයකින් යුතුව ගොඩනගන්නාවූ ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දුව අනාගත පරපුරට භාරදීමේ වගකීම අප සතුව ඇත.
උප සභාපති අපේක්ෂක රෝහිත ප්රනාන්දු: අපි එක ඒකාබද්ධ කණ්ඩායමක් ලෙස නැගී සිටින්නෙමු. ජයග්රහණය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට අපට ඇති හැකියාව ගැන පූර්ණ විශ්වාසයක් ඇත. අපගේ ක්රීඩාව මුහුණ දී ඇති අභියෝග සහ ඒවාට වගකිව යුත්තේ කවුරුන්ද යන්න පාපන්දු ලීග හොඳින් දනී.
විධායක කමිටු අපේක්ෂක ටී. සුතාගර්: මම බැංකු වෘතිකයෙක් වෙමි. මා බැංකු ක්ෂේත්රයේ ලැබූ අත්දැකීම් තුළ හොරකමේ ආදිනව අත්දැක ඇත. එය ක්රීඩාවක් තුලට පැමිණීම ඉතා ඛේදනීයයි. සැප්තැම්බර් 30 වන දින සිට පාපන්දු ක්රීඩාවේ දූෂණයට තිත තබන බව මම ඔබට සහතික වෙමි.
විධායක කමිටු කාන්තා අපේක්ෂක හෂිනි ආරියරත්න: හිටපු ජාතික කණ්ඩායම් ක්රීඩිකාවක් ලෙස කාන්තා පාපන්දු සංවර්ධනයේ එකතැන පල්වීම පිළිබඳව මම දැඩි ලෙස කනගාටු වෙමි. කාන්තා පාපන්දු ක්රීඩාව පුනර්ජීවනය කිරීමට සහ එය නිවැරදි මාවතට යන බවට සහතික කිරීමට අපි පුළුල් සැලැස්මක් ක්රියාත්මක කරන්නෙමු.
විධායක කමිටු අපේක්ෂක යූ. නිහාල් පෙරේරා: නීතිඥයෙකු ලෙස මැතිවරණ හා අභියාචනා කමිටුවේ තීරණ වල වෙනත් පුද්ගලයෙකුට වාසිදායක ලෙස පෙනෙන පක්ෂාග්රාහිත්වය ගැන මම කනස්සල්ල පළකල යුතුයි. මෙය ක්රීඩාවේ ජීව ගුණයට හානිදායක වන බවට මාගේ විශ්වාසයයි.
සාමූහික ප්රකාශයක් නිකුත් කරමින්, දක්ෂිත කණ්ඩායම ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දු ක්රීඩාව ප්රතිසංස්කරණය කිරීමේ හදිසි අවශ්යතාවය ඉස්මතු කරමින් ඔවුන්ගේ සැලසුම් සහගත මූලික අඩිතාලම සමඟ ඉදිරියට යාමට ඔවුන්ගේ කැපවීම අවධාරණය කළේය.
මාධ්ය හමුව මඟින් දක්ෂිත කණ්ඩායමට පාපන්දු පාර්ශව කරුවන් ඇමතීමට හා ක්රීඩාවේ උන්නතිය සඳහා ඔවුන්ගේ නොසැලෙන කැපවීම සන්නිවේදනය කිරීමට සලසාදෙන ලදී. ඒකාබද්ධ දැක්මක් සහ අධිෂ්ඨානශීලී කණ්ඩායමක් සමඟින් ඔවුන් ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දු ක්රීඩාව නව යුගයකට ගෙනයාමට සූදානමින් සිටියි.
දක්ෂිත සමඟ කණ්ඩායම විවිධ හැකියාවලින් පෝෂණය වූ පුද්ගලයින් සමූහයකින් සමන්විත වූ අභිමානවත් පිරිසකි. ශ්රී ලංකා පාපන්දු මහගෙදරේ කැනිමඩල ගිනිගෙන ඇති මොහොතේ එය නිවා පෝෂණය කරමින් සුපෝෂණය කර ජාතික තලයේ ජයග්රහණ රට තුළට ගෙන ඒම අප සමූහයේ එක් විශේෂ අරමුණක් වේ.
கால்பந்தாட்ட சுபிட்சத்தை நோக்கி (“Road to Football Glory” ): இலங்கை கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்திற்கான அசைக்க முடியாத உறுதிப்பாட்டை தக்க்ஷிதா அணி வெளிப்படுத்துகிறது
“கால்பந்தாட்டத்தின் மகிமைக்கான பாதை” (“Road to Football Glory” ): ஊடக மாநாட்டில் ஒரு குறிப்பிடத்தக்க அறிவிப்பில், இலங்கை கால்பந்து சம்மேளனத்தின் (FFSL) தேர்தலில் திட்டமிட்டபடி தொடரும் உறுதியான தீர்மானத்தை தக்க்ஷிதா அணி மீண்டும் உறுதி செய்துள்ளது. தக்~pத அணி 13 வேட்பாளர்களை பெருமையுடன் களமிறக்கியுள்ளதுடன், கால்பந்து பங்குதாரர்களை ஒன்றிணைக்கும் முகமாக ஐக்கிய முன்னணியை முன்வைத்துள்ளது.
தலைவர் பதவிக்குரிய வேற்பாளர் தக்க்ஷிதா சுமதிபால: “செப்டம்பர் 30, 2023 அன்று குகுளுடு தலைவராக நான் பதவியேற்பேன் என்று நான் உறுதியாக நம்புகிறேன். இதன்போது குகுளுடு சட்டங்கள், தேர்தல் மற்றும் மேல்முறையீட்டுக் குழுவின் கோரிக்கைகள், அவற்றின் விளக்கங்கள் வெளிப்பட்ட விதம் ஆகியவற்றைக் கருத்தில் கொள்வது மிகவும் முக்கியமான விடயமாகும்;. இந்தத் தேர்தல் தனிப்பட்ட பதவிகளுக்குரியதல்ல, இது பட்டியலின் அடிப்படையில் நடைபெறும் என்பதும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.
உப தலைவர் வேட்பாளர் ரோஹித பெர்னாண்டோ: “நாங்கள் ஒரு ஒருங்கிணைந்த அணியாக நிற்கிறோம், வெற்றியைப் பெறுவதற்கான எங்கள் திறமையில் முழு நம்பிக்கையுடன் இருக்கிறோம். கால்பந்து லீக்குகள் எங்கள் விளையாட்டு எதிர்கொண்ட சவால்கள் மற்றும் அதற்கு யார் பொறுப்பு என்பது பற்றி நன்கு அறியும்.”
செயற்குழு வேட்பாளர் டி. சுதாகர்: “வங்கி பின்னணியில் இருந்து வருவதால், செப்டம்பர் 30 முதல் கால்பந்து ஊழலுக்கு முற்றுப்புள்ளி வைப்போம் என்று நான் உங்களுக்கு உறுதியளிக்கிறேன்.”
நிறைவேற்று செயற்குழு பெண் வேட்பாளர் ஹாஷினி ஆரியரத்ன: “முன்னாள் தேசிய வீராங்கனை என்ற முறையில், பெண்கள் கால்பந்து துறையில் உள்ள பின்தங்கிய நிலையினை நான் நன்கு அறிவேன். மகளிர் கால்பந்தை புத்துயிர் பெறச் செய்வதற்கும், அது சரியான பாதையில் செல்வதை உறுதி செய்வதற்கும் விரிவான திட்டத்தை செயல்படுத்துவோம்.”
நிறைவேற்று செயற்குழு வேட்பாளர் யு நிஹால் பெரேரா: “ஒரு சட்டத்தரணி என்ற வகையில், தேர்தல் மற்றும் மேன்முறையீட்டுக் குழுவின் முடிவுகளில் காணப்படும் சார்புநிலை குறித்து நான் கவலைகளை வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டும், இது மற்றொரு நபருக்கு சாதகமாகத் தோன்றுகிறது.”
ஒரு கூட்டு அறிக்கையில், இலங்கை கால்பந்தாட்டத்தை சீர்திருத்துவதற்கான அவசரத்தை எடுத்துக்காட்டி, தங்களின் திட்டமிட்ட முன்முயற்சிகளுடன் முன்னோக்கிச் செல்வதற்கான உறுதிப்பாட்டை தச்சித அணி வலியுறுத்தியது.
“சுழயன வழ குழழவடியடட புடழசல” மீடியா மாநாடு, தச்சிதா அணிக்கு கால்பந்து பங்குதாரர்களிடம் உரையாடுவதற்கும், விளையாட்டின் மேம்பாட்டிற்கான அவர்களின் அசைக்க முடியாத அர்ப்பணிப்பைத் தெரிவிப்பதற்கும் ஒரு தளத்தை வழங்கியது. ஒன்றிணைந்த பார்வையுடனும் உறுதியான அணியுடனும் இலங்கை கால்பந்தாட்டத்தை புதிய சகாப்தத்திற்கு இட்டுச் செல்ல தயாராக உள்ளனர்.
தக்க்ஷிதா அணி பற்றி
தக்க்ஷிதா அணியானது இலங்கை கால்பந்தாட்டத்துறைக்கு புத்துயிர் வழங்கும் முகமாக அர்ப்பணிப்புடன் செயற்படக்கூடிய பலதரப்பட்ட நபர்களை உள்ளடக்கியது. அவர்களின் கூட்டு நோக்கு மற்றும் பணியானது விளையாட்டிற்குள் ஒரு நேர்மறையான மாற்றத்தைக் கொண்டுவருவதை நோக்கமாகக் கொண்டமை அதன் வளர்ச்சி, ஒருமைப்பாடு மற்றும் வெற்றியை உறுதி செய்கிறது.









Football
AIFF Faces FIFA, AFC Ban Threat as October 30 Deadline Looms
Indian football is staring at yet another international suspension as FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have jointly warned the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to ratify its long-pending constitution by October 30, 2025, or risk a complete ban from world football.
In a strongly-worded two-page letter sent on Tuesday (August 26) to AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey, FIFA and AFC expressed “profound concern” over the failure to finalise and implement a revised constitution, a matter pending before India’s Supreme Court since 2017.
If suspended, India’s national teams and clubs would be barred from all international competitions, while the country’s ambitious 2036 Olympic Games bid in Ahmedabad could also be thrown into uncertainty.
FIFA & AFC Ultimatum
The letter, signed by FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer Elkhan Mammadov and AFC Deputy General Secretary Vahid Kardany, set out three urgent requirements for the AIFF:
1. Obtain a definitive Supreme Court order approving the revised constitution.
2. Ensure full compliance with FIFA and AFC statutes.
3. Formally ratify the constitution at the next AIFF General Meeting.
Failure to comply, they warned, would trigger sanctions, including full suspension of AIFF membership.
Previous Suspension in 2022
This is not the first governance crisis to hit Indian football. In August 2022, FIFA suspended the AIFF for “third-party interference” after a court-appointed Committee of Administrators temporarily ran the federation. That ban lasted just two weeks, lifted only after fresh elections were held in which Kalyan Chaubey defeated football legend Bhaichung Bhutia.
Domestic Fallout – ISL in Crisis
The deadlock has already disrupted Indian football at the domestic level. The Indian Super League (ISL), India’s top-tier professional league, has been put “on hold” by Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL), the AIFF’s commercial partner, due to uncertainty over its Master Rights Agreement, which expires in December 2025.
At least three clubs have suspended operations or delayed salaries, while all 11 ISL clubs have warned of an “existential crisis.” Reports from FIFPRO further highlight cases of players’ contracts being terminated, leaving livelihoods at risk.
The Supreme Court of India will hear the matter again on August 28, a session that could determine the immediate future of the ISL and India’s football calendar.
What’s at Stake
If AIFF fails to meet the October deadline, India could lose:
• Participation in FIFA and AFC tournaments.
• Entry rights for national teams and clubs in international competitions.
• Momentum in its 2036 Olympics bid.
• Credibility with players, fans, and commercial partners.
For now, the football fraternity in India waits anxiously for the Supreme Court’s verdict and AIFF’s ability to steer through yet another governance storm
Football
Heritage Derby Trophy Goes to Hameed Al Husseinie College
Colombo – Hameed Al Husseinie College emerged victorious in the prestigious Heritage Derby Trophy football encounter against Zahira College, Maradana, securing a 3–1 win at the Colombo Racecourse grounds yesterday.
The match kicked off under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, adding special significance to this annual football rivalry.
Hameed Al Husseinie College took control early, leading 2–0 at halftime before sealing the victory with a third goal in the second half. Zahira College managed to pull one back, but it was not enough to challenge the dominant performance of the winners.
The trophy presentation was held soon after the final whistle, with the principals of both schools — Rizvi Marikkar of Zahira College and Mrs. Dain of Hameed Al Husseinie College — present to witness the celebrations.
This latest victory adds another chapter to the rich history of the Heritage Derby, further cementing Hameed Al Husseinie College’s reputation in school football.
Football
Exclusive: AFC Fines Sri Lankan Footballer Over “Free Palestine” Message
Colombo – June 13
Sri Lankan national footballer Mohamed Thilham, who recently made headlines after displaying a “PRAY FOR FREE PALESTINE” message on his undershirt during post-match celebrations, has now been officially penalized by international football authorities.
Following Sri Lanka’s 3-1 victory over Chinese Taipei in the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers on June 10 at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium, Thilham—a non-playing substitute—unveiled the message, drawing both praise and criticism from various quarters.

⚠️ AFC Sanctions Player with USD 2,000 Fine
FIFA, in coordination with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), has now issued a formal disciplinary notice to the player, imposing a USD 2,000 fine. This letter, according to sources within the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), was sent addressing to Thilham, underscoring AFC stance on politically charged expressions at official matches.
According to FIFA’s Disciplinary Code, players are prohibited from displaying political, religious, or personal slogans during matches or official ceremonies. While Thilham’s gesture occurred after the final whistle, FIFA and AFC treat any action within the stadium environment as part of official conduct.
⚽ FFSL Under Scrutiny for Disciplinary Action
FFSL President Jaswar Umar previously stated that the act “was not authorized by the federation” and “violates international football disciplinary norms.” He also confirmed that the FFSL would take internal disciplinary action against the player.
However, this incident has reignited public debate over the role of athletes in social advocacy and the limits imposed by international sports law. While some supporters see Thilham’s actions as courageous and morally driven, others have raised concerns about the player’s career stability and future opportunities under increasing scrutiny.
📝 Editorial Insight
At Sri Lankan Sports TV, we initially chose to withhold the content of the message in our match coverage—out of responsibility to the player’s career and to respect global sports protocol. However, the message went viral after several social media users circulated the full image, seemingly with the intention of sparking controversy.
The resulting spotlight has unfortunately led to a formal penalty, underscoring the real-world consequences that athletes may face when international regulations intersect with personal conviction.
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