Colombo City Challenge football from July 20

By Susil Premalal

The Colombo - City 2024 Challenge Trophy Football Tournament conducted jointly by the Colombo Football League and the City Football League will be held from July 20 to August 10 at the City Football League Grounds in Colombo.

This is the first jointly conducted football tournament in Sri Lanka. The tournament will be held under Football Sri Lanka’s (FSL) supervision.

Challenger SC, Ratnam SC, New Star SC and Old Bens SC will represent the Colombo Football League while Saunders SC, Java Lane SC, Renown SC and Maligawatta Youth SC will represent the City League at this tournament, which will commence from the quarter-finals.

The champions will receive Rs. 1m and the runners-up will receive Rs. 500,000. In addition, all eight participating teams will be awarded Rs. 250,000 and a jersey set.

FSL President Jaswar Umar participated in the draw ceremony and announced that FSL is supporting the restart of domestic football competitions by activating the leagues.

He further said: “Football Sri Lanka is steadily moving towards the right track and few people are trying to build false stories of the delay in the domestic season, which was delayed due to the funds from FIFA.

“FSL is preparing four national teams currently - Senior Men, Senior Women, Boys’ Under-17 and Boys’ Under-20 for upcoming international competitions,” Umar added.

The top league seasons will commence from the third week of September.