Sri Lanka off to Saudi for WC Qualifiers

By Susil Premalal  

The Sri Lanka Football Team left for Saudi Arabia yesterday to participate in the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asia Cup 2027 Qualifying Round One Tournament.  
The national team will be participating for the first time in an international competition after being inactive for almost a year due to the FIFA ban.  

The first leg against Yemen is scheduled to be held on October 12 at Abha and the second leg on October 17 in Colombo at the Racecourse Grounds.  
Yemen are ranked 156 and Sri Lanka 202 according to the FIFA World Rankings as of September 21.  

Football Sri Lanka has decided to award a bonus of Rs. 750,000 to each player if the Sri Lanka Team win both matches and qualifies for the second round.  

Sri Lanka Squad: Harsha Fernando, Chalana Chameera, Sujan Perera, Prabath Arunasiri, Charith Rathnayaka, Asikur Rahaman, Mohamed Aman, Kaveesh Fernando, Shenal Pingho, Mariyathas Nitharshan, Naushad Mohamed, Jude Supun, Faizal Aakid, Waseem Razeek, Mohamed Shifan, Chathuranga Madushan, Mohamed Shabeer, Chamod Dilshan, Rifkhan Mohamed, Kavindu Ishan, Naizeer Mohamed, Senan de Silva and Aris Mohamed.