Football Federation polls re-fixed for 29 September

 The three prominent candidates. Ranjith Rodrigo (extreme right) emphasises on a point to the media while Dr. Manil Fernando (extreme left) and Jaswar Umar look on during a briefing with the media after their Special General Meeting held in Colombo yesterday.

• Original date changed at request of FIFA

By Althaf Nawaz

At a Special General Meeting held in Colombo yesterday, the new date for the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) election was finalised for 29 September.

Since the case filed by several parties was amicably settled by all parties, including the Sports Minister last week, the Court of Appeal (COA) dismissed the case and the election was initially fixed for 16 September.

On a request made by the world football governing body FIFA, the election has now been scheduled for 29 September, which was unanimously accepted by the representatives of 67 leagues who gathered at this meeting.

A maximum of 13 members will be elected for four years to run the affairs of FFSL as per the newly amended constitution in compliance with FIFA guidelines.

A three-member election committee was announced. It will be headed by former retired High Court Judge U.L.M. Majeed, with the other members being Bandula Atapattu along with retired General Upali Gunasekere.

Nominations for the election commenced yesterday and will close on 19 August by 3 p.m. The dates to file objections were stipulated from 1 to 3 September and the committee will look into these objections on 4 September. On the same day the final list of candidates eligible to contest the elections will be disclosed by the committee.