By Susil Premalal

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) is all set to launch Sri Lanka’s first ever professional football tournament the Lanka Super League on January 29.  
Ten leading clubs including foreign players are expected to participate in this tournament. 

 
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa will chair a discussion with the organisers of the tournament at 10:00 a.m. at the Sports Ministry today, according to FFSL President Anura de Silva.  
Leading officials of the Sports Ministry, Institute of Sports Medicine (ISM) doctors, representatives of football clubs and FFSL officials are expected to participate in this discussion.  
After launching the Lanka Super League in January, the FFSL has proposed to conduct a pre-season tournament while the tournament proper will take place in April.  
Since Ratnam SC and Renown SC who are based in Kotahena could not train during the lockdown period, FFSL had acceded to their request to conduct a pre-season tournament, the FFSL President said. 

The other reason to have a pre-season tournament is because the national team will have to be released by the clubs for the two 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Zone second round qualifying matches against North Korea on March 25 and South Korea on March 31. The FFSL has made arrangement to conduct the Lanka Super League pre-season tournament from February 7 to April 1.