FSL honours 1995 SAARC Gold Cup-winning football team

1995 Bristol SAARC Gold Cup champions with Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa and FSL President Umar Jaswar

By Susil Premalal

Football Sri Lanka (FSL) honoured members of the 1995 Bristol SAARC Gold Cup-winning football team, coaches and officials with commemorative plaques and cash awards of LKR 100,000.

The presentation was made at the first-ever Football Colours Night organised by FSL under the patronage of Sports Minister Namal Rajapakse.

In a span of 83 years in Sri Lanka’s football history, from 1939 to 2022, the triumph in the 1995 Bristol SAARC Gold Cup was the first ever.

Sri Lanka won the five-nation tournament held in Colombo, defeating India 1-0 in the final. The tournament, held from March 25 to April 2, 1995, saw Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan also participate.

The Sri Lanka team was led by Sampath Perera, with the winning goal being scored by substitute Sarath Welleage. The championship trophy was presented by the then president of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (1995), the late J.S.N. Anandarajah.

According to FSL president Jaswar Umar, the Football Colours Night will be held annually in the future.
The 1995 champion team included Sampath Perera (captain), Mohamed Amanulla (Vice-captain), Prabath Ferdinand, Junaideen Hasheemdeen, Priyantha Perera, Roshan Perera, Imtiyaz Raheem, Mohamed Riza, S.M. Rizwan, Anton Wambeck, Lalith Weerasinghe, Sarath Wellage, Jagath Rohana, Ajith Prasanna, and Manjula Sirisena, Head Coach (Brazilian) George Fereira and Trainer Marcos Fereia (Brazilian).