Football: Foreign players barred from FA Cup

Foreign players will not permitted to play in this year’s Cargills Food City FA Cup Tournament which commenced last Saturday (3). 

The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) made this decision as local players were unable to make an impact due to foreign-player dominance. 

This year’s Cargills Food City FA Cup Tournament champions will receive a cash award of Rs 1 million. 

Cargills Food City is throwing its weight behind the FA Cup Championship for the fourth consecutive year in line with their partnership with the FFSL. 

The tournament will have 672 teams from 65 Leagues with the preliminary rounds conducted at League level (knockout basis), with a total of 671 matches. 

Accordingly, each League will hold knockout rounds for its clubs and the champions from each League will progress to the next round. 

The finals will be held on April 8. 

“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 National level,” said Cargills Foods Company (CFC) COO, Dhammika Guruge. 

Last year Colombo FC won the FA Cup defeating Renown FC in the final. 

A total of 60 teams (minus the 6 Services' teams) will progress and be added to the 31 teams who were among the final 32 teams of the Cargills Food City FA Cup 2015. 

Of the qualified 60 teams, 6 teams will receive byes, 54 teams will play a 2nd Round (knockout basis). 

The qualifying 27 teams will go into a draw with the remaining 37 teams. 

The final 64 teams will be drawn to play the 3rd stage of the Cargills Food City FA Cup 2016. 

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 longstanding tradition of Football. 

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. 

Football enthusiasts can 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.