The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) makes history with yet another milestone with the launch of Sri Lanka’s first-ever professional football league competition, dubbed as ‘Super League’, from April 19, 2021, at the Sugathadasa Stadium.
The inaugural Super League competition has been the highly anticipated event in Sri Lanka among football fans both home and abroad.
Ten top-tier club teams have been selected through a strict club licensing criteria on par with international standards. These clubs are now shaping up their operations to transform into vibrant professional football entities, similar to European Football Clubs.
These ten clubs were unable to play or practice as much as they wanted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus the FFSL has organized this league to pave the way for them to come out in action. The FFSL had successfully organized a pre-season League to help the clubs prepare for the Super League proper.
The Super League can be witnessed on TV I to allow the fans to be content with. The fans will be able to watch the matches with a little foreign flavour in the teams as they have got down players from countries like Morocco, Ivory Coast, Japan and others to add more punch to their attacking moves.
This Super League will also benefit the development of football in Sri Lanka enticing the players to raise their standards while representing the national team too. Clubs too will gain by way of finances and their commercial values.
The Super League will be conducted on a single leg-based format and will be limited to 45 games, with nine games per club. The team at the top of the table at the end of the 45 games will be crowned champions of Sri Lanka’s first ever Professional Football Tournament.
All participating clubs are guaranteed of financial support, even if they are ranked at the bottom of the table. Eventual Super League Champions will win a prize of Rs. 5 million, first runners-up win Rs. 3.5 million, second runners-up Rs. 2.75 million, fourth place gets Rs. 2.5 million, fifth place gets Rs. 2.25 million, sixth place gets Rs. 2 million, seventh place Rs. 1.75 million, eighth place Rs. 1.5 million, ninth place Rs. 1.25 million and despite finishing at the bottom of the table, the last team will still get Rs. 1 million according to the organisers.
“We believe the first ever Professional Football League in Sri Lanka would create the platform necessary to develop the game at elite level in the country. The FFSL is grateful to FIFA for giving the approval to launch this League as a special project and funding to a great extent for the first two seasons of the League.
“The FFSL also would invest a huge sum looking for a brighter future for the game, players, coaches, referees and other stakeholders in the long run,” said Anura de Silva the president of the FFSL. (BP)