Football Sri Lanka fined and face suspension

Football Sri Lanka (FSL) has been imposed a fine of US$ 20,000 by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for failing to field a team in the under-17 Asian Football Championship that took place in Uzbekistan this year. “Yes, AFC has imposed the fine for not taking part in the under-17 Asian Football Championship 2022 in October,” confirmed acting President Jaswar Umar.

On conducting an investigation in this regard the Disciplinary Committee of AFC has imposed the fine on charges for violating the competition rules. In the meantime, former Chief of Football Sri Lanka Ranjith Rodrigo stressed that former President Umar Jaswar and his Executive Committee should take responsibility if the World governing body, FIFA imposes a ban on FSL in the coming days.

A letter dated December 22 was sent to Upali Hewage, the Immediate Past General Secretary of FSL, signed by Kenny Jean-Marie, the Chief Member Associations Officer of FIFA and Vahid Kardany, the Deputy General Secretary, Member Associations of AFC.

“We kindly ask the FSL to provide us by no later than January 3, 2023 with an adjusted roadmap in line with our previous mutual understanding, foreseeing without further ado the election of a new executive committee for a four-year term as per the FFSL statutes adopted on September 22,

2022. Should no election take place in compliance with the aforementioned framework, the matter will be submitted to our relevant decision making body for further consideration and possible sanction based on FIFA Statutes, including the suspension of the FFSL,” the letter states.

These comments were made during a media briefing held in Colombo on Wednesday (28), ahead of the FSL elections, scheduled to be held on January 14.

Rodrigo alleged that FSL is currently under scrutiny of FIFA for all the misdeeds and blamed former President Jaswar for going after politicians to extend his term of office instead of following the FIFA and the AFC guidelines in establishing a new Constitution ahead of the elections.

In fact, a high-profile FIFA and AFC delegation visited Sri Lanka recently and held negotiations with Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe and FSL top officials to conduct a smooth election.