FSL draws up calendar of events for next year

• Commences with Inter Provincial tournament in January

By Althaf Nawaz

The incumbent FSL Committee headed by President Jaswar Umar ably assisted by the two senior Vice Presidents, Ranjith Rodrigo and Dr. Manil Fernando and their Committee, is on the verge of finalising the events calendar for next year.

It is envisaged to launch the calendar of events with the dawn of the New Year with the second edition of the Inter Provincial tournament involving all nine provinces in January.   

This tournament, which was introduced last year, gained popularity fast, especially as the North and East were given the opportunity to scout for talented players, enabling them to showcase their performances. This event also turned out to be a major crowd puller after three decades of war.

Speaking to the Daily FT Jaswar said: “We are on the verge of finalising our events calendar, which we expect to complete by the end of the month. We intend to kick off our season with the Inter Provincial tournament from January and intend to complete by mid-February. At this point resuming the club tournament has been an issue for most clubs that are not in a position to restart. So, in fairness to them we want to start this tournament allowing them to get ready for their tournament.”

“Due to the suspension most clubs, including ones in the top tier, have released their players due to non-playing of the game. It has been a big burden on them to retain the players and coaching staff without the game being played. Hence, they sought time from us to restart and contract new players with the introduction of the new event calendar. Therefore, we decided to launch our events calendar with the Provincial tournament,” said Jaswar. FSL is focusing on two major international events, the under-20 tournament next August and the 2025 SAAF Gold Cup tournament set to be hosted in Sri Lanka in June 2025. With the intention of preparing for these events, FSL wants to launch an under-19 tournament in February/March 2024 from which they intend to pick a pool for the under-20 tournament to be held in August.

In the meantime, FSL is making arrangements to play 12 International friendly matches involving the national team on home and away basis, which will enable the players to gain much needed match exposure to gear up for the SAAF tournament.

The local government body is looking at the possibility of hosting the second edition of the four nations tournament mid next year with the participation of the Maldives, Brunei, Macau and the host nation. 

They are also finalising necessary documentation that is mandatory to obtain annual grants from the Asian and World Governing bodies.

“We have two major tournaments in 2024 and 2025. We have to get ready for these. We intend to initiate an under-19 tournament soon after the Provincial tournament to pick a pool for the under-20 tournament. Then we hope to play the Four Nations tournament, and look at a window mid next year. With all this exposure, we want to go all out to win a championship at home at the SAAF tournament which we are to host in 2025,” Jaswar added.

“There will be an exciting period of time for both the football loving public and the players. The players will have plenty of tournaments to play, while the public have the opportunity to witness some exciting games of football after a long period of time,” added Jaswar.