Ranjith Rodrigo to contest for Presidency again

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Ranjith Rodrigo

Former President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka Ranjith Rodrigo expressed his decision to contest for the Presidency once again, when the elections come up mid next year.

Rodrigo, who is the current Chairman Media and Finance, declared his intentions at a press conference held at the Football House.

“We are also trying, investing our time and work, to build this and take this (Sri Lanka Football) towards victory. People are asking am I coming back (to be President), Yes I am coming back. The sports constitution has been changed so I will be contesting for the President post next year,” he remarked.

We will give the 2017 calendar by 1st January – Anura

President of the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) Anura De Silva confirmed that they will release the football calendar for the year 2017 by 1st of January.

He was critical about the hardships he had to face in his last term as President, which was from 2013 to 2015, as he was not able to work properly due to external matters.

 

“In my previous term, time was wasted with 18 court cases wasting my time in courts and police and I didn’t have time to do anything. Normally a vision should have around 4 years and also sponsors also likes to work with the current office bearers and committee. When the JFA came they said they don’t want the management to change,” he added.

 

“If there is anyone, come and contest. I can’t be here by force. We are all volunteers and it is us who are being blamed as well. In personal life we are successful people and we don’t want to fail here. We want to save Sri Lanka football from this current state,” he mentioned, welcoming a challenge.

 

Apart from the legal battles, Ranjith Rodrigo’s two year term was not a fruitful in terms of on field performance as well. Sri Lanka suffered their heaviest loss, 10-0 against Maldives, in the SAFF Championship while it was revealed couple of years later that a few players were involved in a match fixing scandal.

 

In 2015, Sri Lanka lost to Bhutan, the lowest ranked team in FIFA ratings, in both legs of the 2018 World Cup Qualifier. Sri Lanka had defeated Bhutan 4-0 a couple of years earlier in the SAFF Championship.

FFSL to increase FA Cup Prize money

Chairman of Media and Finance Ranjith Rodrigo confirmed that the Football Federation of Sri Lanka will be increasing the Champions’ Prize money to 1 million.

The current President of the FFSL Anura De Silva was undecided on whether he will contest or not.

“Maybe we will be there, we won’t be there; we have to face the elections. My term will come to an end next May or June. I have not thought about contesting again so that’ll be on the table to decide later but anyway we will have a team to see that football will be taken to the next level. We have had hardships in terms of our performance at the national level. So that’s why we are doing everything to see that we do at local level,” De Silva quipped.