Football: All set for FA Cup 2019 battle of the Top 64

The most popular football competition in Sri Lanka, the Vantage FA Cup 2019 has arrived at its most exciting stage where the top performing 32 football teams in this year’s tournament have been selected for the Battle of 64 final phase.  

Commenced in 1948, the FA Cup Championship is the longest standing and popular knockout basis tournament conducted by Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) annually.  

This year’s Championship kick started during March 2019 with the participation of a record breaking 827 football clubs representing 63 Football Leagues across the island. 

The Championship consists of three stages namely Preliminary Stage, District Stage and the National Stage. 

The Preliminary Stage was conducted at league level on a knockout basis. 

The 32 best performing teams from the Preliminary Stage progressed to the District Level, where the top 32 teams who qualified in the last year’s final rounds will encounter with the qualifiers of the District Stage and proceeded towards the national stage. 

The finals of the tournament is scheduled to take place by end of 2019. 

Defending Champions, SL Army SC won the FA Cup title three times-in-a-row and Saunders Sports Club finished runners-up last year. 

The champions this year will receive a cash reward of Rs. 700,000 and runners-up will be offered Rs. 500,000. 

Vantage, the leading fashion brand by Ebony Holdings, pledged title sponsorship for the FA Cup Championship 2019 after a successful delivery of last year’s competition. 

"We are inspired by the performance of the teams participated in this year’s vantage FA Cup. It is absolutely great to witness the enthusiasm throughout the tournament. I am sure that we will head towards a successful conclusion of this year’s tournament where the best out of the best will be crowned as Champions of the Vantage FA Cup 2019," stated Rasmi Raheem, the Chairman of Ebony Holdings. 
  
Furthermore he added; "We acknowledge that we have a responsibility towards uplifting sports in the country. I believe the tournament has uplifted the awareness of youth football in our country. We need to get the teams to engage in events where they will acquire exposure and experience to conquer the game globally in future." 
 
"We have successfully concluded the Preliminary Stage of FA Cup Championship with the proud sponsorship of Ebony Holdings and, we are privileged to have their continuation for the second time. We would like to extend our gratitude to Ebony Holdings for putting their weights to the betterment of Sri Lankan Football as a growing brand of the country," said President of FFSL, Anura de Silva. 

Commenting on the growth and the competition model, the FFSL General Secretary Jaswar Umar stated; "FA Cup has become a household name in the minds of football family and we kept our promise to strengthen and popularized the competition year by year. This year, we will have more engagement of fans and clubs as the competition goes by and especially, we will create very healthy ‘District Football Rivalry’ among clubs".