The ten captains Sujan Perera (Up Country Lions), DK Duminda (Blue Eagles), Subash Madushan (Sea Hawks), LuHmetehan (Ratnam SC), Lahiru Tharaka (Blue Star), Rameez Hassan (Red Star), J Bernard (Defenders SCR), Dilip Pieris (Renown SC), Tharindu Madushanka (New Youngs) and FC Rawmy (Colombo FC)
The first ever Super League football tournament is set to kick off on February 17 with the participation of ten leading teams in the country.
Before the selection of the ten teams were made, a total of eighteen teams were eager to enter the fray and the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) made the final selection after going through past performances.
These details were disclosed at a media briefing held to launch the Super League on Wednesday (10) at the Duncan White Auditorium, Sports Ministry.
President of the FFSL Anura de Silva said that a tournament of this nature is one that will pave the way for professionalism in football in Sri Lanka.
“From the day the present officials were elected their ambition was to make it a reality. To achieve this the FFSL worked hard to obtain the blessings from FIFA and the AFC. The report forwarded to FIFA brought in positive results having agreed to support this new venture”, said De Silva.
He said FIFA has also pledged to offer financial support of US$ 500,000 for a two year period. Initially they granted $100,000 for the first stage.
“The finances have already been distributed to participating clubs to enable them to be prepared for the kick off on February 17”, said De Silva.
“This Super League is certain to benefit the game. It will attract more people to take to the game and more clubs will endeavour to improve their standards and fans will be able to witness some quality soccer during this Super League. At the same time the players too will endeavour to uplift their standards”.
This League will see players develop further and make it easier for the selectors to pick the best players to represent the country.
The FFSL will also have to keep working hard to feed the clubs with financial assistance so that they can invest on improving the game.
The others who will benefit by this system are the administrators, coaches, referees and support staff. Even the younger generations will be enticed to take to the game that will help them gain in many ways according to De Silva.
Cricket is the only sport in Sri Lanka that is played at professional level and parents too encourage their children to take to the game that could have a good future.
If football too is taken to a professional level, parents will be compelled to be interested in their children pursuing with it that can bring in a bright future according to the FFSL. De Silva thanked FIFA, officials of FFSL and club officials who helped in numerous ways to bring the Super League to the country.
Jaswar Umar the Secretary of the FFSL said that a pre-season program will commence this week with ten teams divided into two groups. All matches will be played at the Sugathadasa Stadium with the first game to kick off at 5 pm and the second game at 8 pm.
Unfortunately, spectators will not be allowed admission to witness these matches as the FFSL has taken steps to telecast these matches live through their official Football Sri Lanka TV, You Tube and all social media platforms.
The following ten teams will play in the pre-season tournament:
Group 1: Renown SC, Ratnam SC, Blue Star SC, Defenders SC and Red Star SC
Group 2: Up Country Lions, Sea Hawks, New Young SC, Colombo FC and Blue Eagles SC
Matches will be telecast live on the following:
Football Sri Lanka TV- https//www.youtube.com/c.FootballSriLankaTV
Web site www.fsltv.com and http://www.football.lk