FFSL reserves mammoth amount for upcoming calendar year

Tuesday, 3 June 2025 02:34 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Althaf Nawaz

FFSL President Jaswar Umar

Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) has reserved a mammoth amount of funds – close to Rs. 1 billion – to run their affairs in the upcoming calendar year, which was approved by their stakeholders at their Annual Congress held last Saturday in Colombo.

With the participation of 61 Member Leagues, the iconic event was presided by incumbent President Jaswar Umar. His gigantic exco-members passed several key approvals, especially to ‘Re-Start’ the world’s most popular game in the Pearl of Indian Ocean.

The main item was approval of their annual budget, which eventually is a key factor in running their affairs forward. There were no objections nor did any league members refrain from voting and the Budget was passed unanimously, where FIFA forward funding (Opex) secured highest amount of $ 1.2 million.

Among the several items in the agenda, a decision was taken to temporarily suspend the membership of 6 leagues – namely: Embilipitiya, Hambanthota, Jaffna, Point Pedro, Madu Manthai, and Kalkuda FC – until these leagues fall in line with FFSL stipulated guidelines. Some of these leagues had pending court cases and various other issues, which prompted the Committee to keep them in the sin-bin.

“We were compelled to take action against these Leagues who had various issues – some even pending for quite some time. This is not a permanent action we have taken, and as a responsible body our team will work closely with these leagues to settle their issues and draft them to be an active member. We want this Football family to be united but work according to our constitution without any issues,” said Jaswar.

“Well after some bad incidents in the past, we are striving hard to settle down amidst many obstacles. We had some key priorities to attend to, like the national team’s involvement in many tournaments. We managed to slowly but steadily build a squad with a mix of local and overseas players who were eligible to play for Sri Lanka based on their parents being born in Sri Lanka. We still have a long way to go and we will support their endeavour with the support of FIFA, AFC and Aspire Qatar, who all stood by us and is a pillar of strength in our affairs so far. I am very grateful to them.”

“Nevertheless, this congress is on par with the required standards and we thank the guests, including the Sports Ministry DG, delegates from the FIFA and AFC and all other stakeholders, who graced this occasion,” concluded Jaswar.

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