FFSL elections: Five nominations from Sumathipala’s camp rejected

The nominations of five individuals including the president of Anuradhapura District Football Association Dacshitha Sumathipala have been rejected by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) electoral committee.

In late July, a three-member committee was appointed by Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Roshan Ranasinghe to call for and hold the FFSL elections.

The electoral committee has accepted the nominations of 08 remaining candidates from Sumathipala’s camp while accepting all nominations submitted by his rival faction led by former president Jaswar Umar, who vies for the FFSL presidency.

Accordingly, Jaswar Umar’s camp has gained more chances to win the election, scheduled to be held on September 29.

It is reported that the nominations of Dacshitha Sumathipala who was proposed for FFSL presidency, T.L. Udunuwara (Wattala League) who sought FFSL vice presidency, and Nalaka Dissanayake (Sri Lanka Schools), Nihal Perera (Wattala League) and Heshini Ariyaratne (Deniyaya League) who had nominated themselves for the federation’s executive committee have been rejected, after considering the inactivity of their affiliated leagues for 4 years.

They have been given the opportunity to file appeals against the nomination rejection before September 03.

If the appeals of Sumathipala’s faction too face rejection, Jaswar Umar will be elected as FFLS president unopposed.

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) on December 25, 2022, had issued a red notice to Sri Lankan Football authorities, raising concerns over the Electoral roadmap of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka.

Against this backdrop, FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) approved and included “Sri Lanka” in the official World Cup draw on a strict conditional basis. Thereby, the FFSL was required to conduct its election at least 10 days prior to World Cup match.

Later on, the FFSL decided to hold the elections of the federation in September, in order to allow Sri Lanka to participate in the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup qualifiers.

On August 28, the world football governing body decided to lift the suspension imposed on the FFSL, however, it will continue to monitor the situation along with AFC until the FFSL elections are held.