Former President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) Jaswar Umar was re-elected to the post, at the election for office bearers held on Friday (29 Sep.).
Umar polled 45 votes, more than twice as many as those of his competitor’s, Thilanga Dakshitha, who honed a total of 20 votes.
The election was held at 03:00 p.m. today at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute’s Auditorium, under the scrutiny of both the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
In a circular to member associations, FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura stated that as a result of the decision taken by the Bureau of the FIFA Council on 21 January 2023, the FFSL had been suspended until further notice in accordance with article 16 of the FIFA Statutes, due to government interference.
Thereby, the FFSL lost all of its membership rights, as defined in Article 13 of the FIFA Statutes, until further notice.
On December 25 2022, FIFA had issued a red notice to Sri Lankan Football authorities, raising concerns over the Electoral roadmap of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka.
However, the suspension imposed on the FFSL was lifted on 28 August, following which both FIF and the AFC continued to monitor the situation until the election was held.
Against this backdrop, the FIFA and the AFC approved and included “Sri Lanka” in the official World Cup draw on the strict conditional basis that the FFSL election be conducted at least 10 days prior to the World Cup match.
A three-member committee was appointed by Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Roshan Ranasinghe on 25 July, to call for, and hold the FFSL elections.
