• FIFA President Infantino impressed by work of FFSL under President Jaswar

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino met Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) ‬President ‬Jaswar Umar ‬last week in Doha, Qatar at the FIFA President’s Asian Office, a FFSL press release announced. During the meeting, they covered several topics including development, governance, and activities that can provide a social impact through football. Infantino assured the FFSL President ‬that FIFA will fully ‬support ‬the good efforts of the current FFSL President ‬to “re-start ‬football” after ‬the ‬Covid-19 global pandemic ‬that halted all sporting activities for nearly two years. The FIFA President also assured his support for the ongoing efforts of FFSL for the revision of the Constitution (statutes) and to set up a date for the election of office bearers for the next term of four years, the press release stated. In order to ensure the smooth flow of ongoing matters, a high-level FIFA-Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joint mission is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka within two weeks (early September). This mission is expected to meet Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Roshan Ranasinghe and the FFSL Executive Committee to finalise dates for the revision and elections of the statutes, the statement went on to read. After a ban was imposed on the Indian Federation by FIFA, there were speculations by many that a similar ban is to be imposed on Sri Lanka as well, after 31 August 2022. However, FIFA has assured that no decision of that nature is required for Sri Lanka and the world governing body will  ‬not make any decision that will adversely impact the FFSL during the social, economic, and political crisis the country is facing at the moment, it was announced. President Umar explained that the FIFA President’s visit to Sri Lanka in November last year has provided a very positive impact where a large number of youth are coming forward to play football with renewed hope. A record number of participants amounting to nearly 2,000 ‬young players  ‬have attended ‬selection ‬trials for the U17, ‬U20, and women’s national teams in the last two months. This shows a growing interest among ‬parents towards football, the FFSL press release pointed out. Umar’s initial set of activities to “re-‬start football” after the Covid-19 lockdown were highly successful where football was recommended to be played on the levels of a national team, youth teams, regional-level football, a women’s team, and club competitions. His “second-‬version” of the medium-term plan is set to commence next month, the statement went on to say, adding that FIFA has expressed their willingness to support Sri Lanka in this second version ‬by building a state-of‬-the-art stadium, building ‬pitches ‬in regional areas, establishing good ‬governance through ‬a ‬new constitution, coaching and providing educational and technical ‬support, and through ‬youth competitions. Infantino and Umar will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) next month to launch a new programme “Football for Schools” under the FIFA Foundation, where schools from all parts of Sri Lanka will benefit with equipment and coaching support, the statement concluded.