By Susil Premalal
The election of office bearers of Football Sri Lanka, that is expected to pave the way for FIFA to lift its international suspension of Sri Lanka, will take place by September 16 under the supervision of FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
Parties arrived at a settlement in respect of the two writ petitions filed by former FSL President Umar Jaswar and a second filed by 25 football leagues attached to FSL.
In reaching a settlement, Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe agreed to suspend the operation of Gazette Extraordinary No. 2310/26 dated 14th December, 2022 and Gazette Extraordinary No. 2310/28 dated 14th December 2022 in relation to FSL until November 1 2023, with the Amended Road Map being accepted and deemed to be part and parcel of the Constitution of FSL adopted by its general membership on September 22, 2022 in terms of Gazette Extraordinary No. 2342/09 dated 24th July, 2023.
Last month FIFA approved the inclusion of Sri Lanka into the official draw for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, despite the suspension that has been in place since January this year, on a strict conditional basis, specifically that FSL conducts its election at least 10 days before their first qualifier.
Senior Additional Solicitor General Sumathi Dharmawardena PC appeared on behalf of the Minister of Sports.
Senior Counsel Eraj de Silva with Counsel Daminda Wijayaratne, Zul Luthufi instructed by Dimuthu Kuruppuarachchi appeared for the Petitioner in CA/Writ/22/2023.
Viran Corea with Thilini Vidanagamage instructed by Shashini Alles appeared for the Petitioners in CA/Writ/25/2023.
