Football: SAFF 8-team Inter-Club competition on the cards

An 8-team Inter-Club competition among 7 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) countries is on the cards, while Football's regional hierarchy has turned its focus on the junior and women segments. 

These subjects were some of the many topics discussed at the SAFF Executive Committee (ExCo) Meeting held in Sri Lanka on Thursday (24). 

This was the first time that Sri Lanka hosted member countries India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan for an ExCo Meeting, which was held at Jetwing Blue, Negombo. The 2-day event was organised by SAFF Vice President, Ranjith Rodrigo. 

"Just like the meeting, a first in Sri Lanka, SAFF will inaugurate an 8-team Inter-Club tournament known as the SAFF Club Cup, where each country will feature its respective champion domestic team, with the host country getting to field a second team. We discussed matters pertaining to the tournament on Thursday at the SAFF meeting, and it was decided that Bangladesh would host the inaugural competition," Rodrigo revealed. 

More funds will be drafted for the development of junior age group level, as well as women's Football, as the SAFF looks at avenues to make the region one of the strongest in Asia, in terms of competition and development of the game. 

"We are looking at pumping more funds into the junior and women's segments and make it a strong entity. Without junior development, no country can think of a strong National side, which is the same in the women's version. If you look at it from a competition point of view, these two categories have the potential to perform well at international competitions. This will automatically 'feed' the National team. That's what we are mainly focusing on," Rodrigo stated. 

Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) President, Anura de Silva, represented the host country at this meeting as a member of the SAFF ExCo. 

In addition, key decisions on the SAFF Women's Championship 2016, the venue for SAFF Championship 2017 and hosts for Under (U)-16 and U-19 Championships in 2017. 

The get-together was also made use of to approve some Standing Committees including for Competition and Finance of SAFF. 

"We are delighted to host this very important event like SAFF in Sri Lanka, and all arrangements were done perfectly, making it a memorable event for visiting delegates from our regional countries, with exemplary Sri Lanka hospitality," said FFSL CEO Jaswar Umar, who closely supervised the local arrangements. 

SAFF was founded in 1997, to strengthen Football cooperation among member countries and to organise the famous SAFF Championship every two years, apart from the U-16 and Women's Championship played every other year. 

This SAFF ExCo Meeting is an important event to endorse decisions to introduce new competitions and development programmes for the region. 

If approved, all member countries including Sri Lanka will receive many additional benefits to develop the game of Football.