By Susil Premalal

Colombo, Dec. 20 (Daily Mirror) - Blue Star SC, Kalutara have qualified to represent Sri Lanka in the inaugural edition of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Men’s Club Championship 2024.

Blue Star SC became the automatic choice to represent the country and Football Sri Lanka (FSL) had no hesitation in naming them to do the honours after the club emerged champions of the Sri Lanka Super League Tournament in 2021.

The SAFF authorities, after considering all fractions, have made arrangements to conduct this tournament in August next year, FSL President Umar Jaswar told the Daily Mirror.

A total of eight South Asian regional club teams will compete in this tournament, which will be conducted on a home and away basis.

The association ranking based on the FIFA World Ranking is used to determine the number of participating teams for each association.

The top-ranked association will have the opportunity of fielding two teams and those associations who are ranked number two to seven in the standings will be eligible to field only one team.

Therefore, the top-ranked nation in the South Asian region India will be allowed to field two club teams while the Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will settle for one club team each.