Sri Lanka to compete at Women’s SAFF Cup

All captains of the 2022 SAFF Cup Tournament with the Trophy (File photo) 

By Susil Premalal   

Football Sri Lanka (FSL) confirmed the participation of the Sri Lanka Women’s team at the seventh South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup Women’s International Championship 2024 to be held in October/November in Dhaka, Bangladesh.   
In addition, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan have also agreed to participate in this tournament, FSL President, Jaswar Umar told the Daily Mirror yesterday.   
This will be the first tournament for the Sri Lanka Women’s Football Team after the recent FIFA suspension.   
Due to the FIFA suspension, Sri Lanka missed the SAFF Men’s Championship 2023 held in India.   
Meanwhile, the FSL will commence their national pool selections from the first week of July at the District level and through the Women’s League Tournament, targeting the SAFF Cup Women’s International Championship.   
The national pool training for the SAFF Cup Women’s International Championship will begin in the first week of September.   
Sri Lanka, who are placed 157th under the latest FIFA World Rankings, have participated in all previous six tournaments while they were able to reach the semi-finals in 2012, 2014 and 2019.   
Bangladesh won their maiden championship defeating Nepal 3-1 in the 2022 tournament final held in Kathmandu, Nepal.