Sidibari
The 15th edition of the SAFF Championship has been confirmed to be hosted in Sri Lanka.
Member countries of SAFF made the decision yesterday in Katmandu, Nepal; The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) had requested SAFF for the hosting rights.
This would be the third time that Sri Lanka gets to host. Lanka previously hosted the 1995 Championship – which they won – and later co-hosted the 2008 edition with Maldives. This year’s tournament is scheduled to kick off in June.
Although Maldives was a co-host that year, the semifinal leg of Maldives and the final were played at Colombo’s Sugathadasa Stadium. Maldives defeated hosts Sri Lanka in the semifinal, with Mohamed Fazeel (Oppo) scoring the winner in the 70th minute. The Maldives went on to win the title for the first time, defeating India in the final after Mukhthar Naseer (two-kilo) broke the deadlock with 3 minutes left on the clock.
As the region’s national football teams gear up to revisit Sri Lanka after 17 years, the Maldives National Team have regrouped to prepare for two international games; a friendly against India next Monday, and the opening game of the third round of 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualification, against Philippines on 25th March.
National football team begins training ahead of AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers
Details surrounding the SAFF Championship 2025 had been undecided, and dragged on for months. The proposed home-and-away fixture format has now been abandoned. And althought the 2023 edition invited guest nations Lebanon and Kuwait, this year’s participants are back to being all south asian; India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
