The final five rounds of the Cargills Food City FA Cup 2016, begins the climax of one of Sri Lanka football’s golden times of the year.
Cargills Food City is putting its weight behind the FA Cup Championship for the 3rd consecutive year in line with the Cargills (Ceylon) PLC partnership with the Football Federation of Sri Lanka.
The tournament commenced on 21st November 2015 and its 7th round would kick off on 23rd April 2016. The 2016 FA Cup Championship saw the participation of 508 clubs and 32 teams have qualified to work-off the 7th round on a knock-out basis to get closer to the ‘Blue Ribbon’ trophy of the football world.
Of the 32 teams playing, 16 teams seeded are the top teams of last year’s FA Cup Championship and 8 teams are from last year’s Champions League.
Colombo FC, the winners of last year,will face tough competition from the established clubs as well as from 8 new teams that have reached the 7th round including Kirulapone United SC, Red Star SC (Ratmalana), Hillary SC (Mannar), Brilliant SC (Ampara), Liverpool (Puttalam), Comrades (Badulla), Jet Liners (Gampaha) and St.Nicholas’ (Jaffna).
The teams take their place in the 7th round having won all their preliminary round matches. Brilliant Sports Club was the Champions of Division II tournament in 2010.
Cargills Food City the title sponsor of the FA Cup in Sri Lanka were the first to introduce the original FA Cup style trophy to the local version of this long standing tradition of football.
Photo Album – FA Cup 2016 – Draws of Final Rounds
Globally the FA Cup is an underdog fan’s dream where the possibility of a minnow becoming a giant is real at every stage of the game.
Cargills a company that is synonymous with youth development has put its strength behind national sports with a particular emphasis on football due to its capacity to touch millions of lives.
“Tracing back the history of Cargills some of the best national players from the yester years were part of the Cargills team. Today we believe Sri Lanka Football can be further harnessed through the Cargills Food City team, young men and women hailing from across the island – as do the players of this phenomenal game. They provide an ideal platform to ignite a renewed passion towards the game from the grassroots to the national level” said DhammikaGuruge, Chief Operating Officer of Cargills Foods Company (CFC).
Football enthusiasts expect the unexpected at this year’s FA Cup Finale with all fans looking out for an exciting finish where an underdog grabs the glamorous trophy modeled on the English FA Cup along with the handsome cash reward.
Following 32 teams have qualified for the 7th round;
Top Seeded Teams
- Colombo FC
- Blue Star SC (Kalutara)
- SL Navy SC
- SL Army SC
- Matara City FC
- Solid SC (Anuradhapura)
- Saunders SC (Colombo)
- Up Country Lions SC (Nawalapitiya)
- Java Lane SC (Colombo)
- SL Air Force SC
- Singing Fish SC (Jaffna)
- Joseph SC (Mannar)
- Renown SC (Colombo)
- Highlanders SC (Ratnapura)
- SL Police SC
- New Star SC (Colombo)
Top Unseeded Teams
- Crystal Palace SC (Gampola)
- New Youngs SC (Wennappuwa)
- NegomboYouthSC
- Nandimitra SC
- Super Sun SC (Beruwala)
- Thihariya Youth SC
- Pelicans SC (Kurunegala)
- Kalutara Park SC
Qualified Teams
- Kirulapone United SC
- Red Star SC (Ratmalana)
- Hilary SC (Mannar)
- Brilliant SC (Ampara)
- Nicholas (Jaffna)
- Liverpool (Puttalam)
- Jet Liners (Gampaha)
- Comrades (Badulla)
