- Follows requests by a majority of clubs
The Champions League Tournament, organised by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) after a hiatus of 24 months, which was set to kick off on Friday (7), has been deferred by a fortnight.
This was revealed to The Sunday Morning Sports by FFSL Executive Committee member SSP (Retd) A. Gaffar, who is the Local Competitions Chair.
He stated that the sport’s local controlling body had taken this decision having considered the request of a majority of clubs. He also noted that most of the competing clubs had sought more time for player registrations and the inclusion of foreign-based players in their lineups ahead of the tournament.
According to Gaffar, the inclement weather at present had also been a factor in the decision to put off the competition by two weeks, as most of the teams had failed to carry out their practice sessions for this reason.
He added that the tournament had been rescheduled to kick off on 21 November, three days after Sri Lanka was scheduled to host Thailand at the Race Course Grounds, Colombo in their 2027 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup Qualifiers fixture.
Fourteen teams are slated to vie for the Champions League title during the upcoming domestic football season.
Last year’s Runners-Up Java Lane Sports Club will head Group ‘A’ with the rest being Saunders Sports Club, New Star Sports Club, Serendib Sports Club, Sri Lanka Transport Board, Negombo Youth, and Crystal Palace Sports Club.
Meanwhile, defending Champions Matara City Sports Club, Anuradhapura Solid, Moragasmulla Sports Club, Sri Lanka Police Sports Club, Super Sun Sports Club, Pelicans Sports Club, and St. Mary’s Sports Club, Jaffna will feature from Group ‘B.’
According to a concept mooted by FFSL President Jaswar Umar, each team in the Champions League will be compelled to field five players aged 20 and born after 2005, while two of them will need to feature throughout a game.
Furthermore, all teams have been afforded the opportunity to include a minimum of four foreign-based players, with the total number of local and foreign players being 29 per team.
(JK)