Former CEO Anura De Silva was elected as the President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka at the Annual General Meeting held at the Sports Ministry Auditorium today.
De Silva won with a margin of 38 votes, securing 88 votes to his rival, Nizam Packeer Ali’s 50 votes. Incidentally the team led by Anura De Silva swept away all the board position in a dominant election where some of the nominees from Packeer Ali’s side withdrew their nominations at the last minute.
This was the first time in 19 years the Football Federation of Sri Lanka held a democratic election to select a new board. The election ended the incumbent President, Ranjith Rodrigo’s two year term in office.
Ranjith Rodrigo took over back in 2013 and in his two year stay Sri Lanka Football has had many ups and downs, with bitter memories of a 10-0 loss to Maldives in the SAFF Championships as well as defeat to world’s last ranked Bhutan in the 2018 World Cup Qualifier.
Balendra Anthony was elected as the General Secretary securing a total of 84 votes while his opponent Clement De Silva received 53 votes in his favor. Mohomed Fazlan with 98 votes won the treasurer post where U.M Perera was able to collect 37 votes.
Newly elected President is an Old Boy of St.Benedict’s College and also represented Sri Lanka from 1983-1992, captaining the side in 91-92 season and Secretary Balendra Anthony is an Old Boy of S.Joseph’s College, captaining the side in 1975 and represented Sri Lanka in 1977.
Soosaipillai Anthonypillai, Retired Senior DIG K.P.P Pathirana, Brig. H.D.W. Kariyawasam, Nalin Silva and Robert Peiris were elected as Vice Presidents while Sagara Piyathilake, U.L.Jaswar and M.S.M Faiz were elected unanimously for the posts of Assistant Treasurer, Assistant Secretary (Admin) and Assistant Secretary (Technical) respectively.
