National team in for strong competition in 2026: Lanka to compete in Maldives and SAFF C’ship: Umar

• FIFA World Cup adds to the gloss 

Sri Lanka’s Men’s national football team is scheduled to compete in the four-nation invitational tournament from 1-10 June this year in Male, to coincide with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Maldivian football, the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President Jaswar Umar told The Daily Morning Sports.

According to him the invitational tournament in Maldives is also expected to include Bangladesh and Nepal besides SL and the host nation.

He also thanked the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) for having invited Sri Lanka to contest the forthcoming competition, while it will also mark Sri Lanka’s first international football tournament in the New year.

Before that though, the Abdullah Al-Mutairi coached team is slated to meet Chinese Taipei away on 31 March, as part of Group ‘D’ of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 (Saudi Arabia) final round qualifiers, which will also be their final game of the said tournament.   

Umar said FAM has consented to conclude the tournament in time to allow football fans in the region to focus on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which is scheduled to kick off on 11 June and last till 19 July in US, Canada and Mexico.

The head of the FFSL said that following the four-team invitational tournament in Maldives, the Lankans will head for the 15th South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup 2026 to be held in Bangladesh during September-October.

The seven-team event which was postponed last year, is set to feature title-holders India, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and hosts Bangladesh, with the Lankans having won its only title when it outright hosted the competition in 1995.

Umar added that football fans in this country will have a plate full of international fixtures during 2026, and was optimistic that the national team would further improve their position in the FIFA World Rankings with regular competitions.

Sri Lanka is currently ranked 194th while among the SAFF nations, India is ranked highest being placed at 142, while the others are Maldives (173), Bangladesh (180), Nepal (182), Bhutan (192) and Pakistan (199), respectively.

Source - The Morning