SAFF Championship 2023: Why Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are not participating

Published at :June 17, 2023 at 9:08 PM

Modified at :June 17, 2023 at 9:08 PM

The two nations will be missing from the upcoming tournament for different reasons.

The 2023 SAFF Championship is right around the corner. India will play host to the tournament that takes place from 21 June to 4 July 2023 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore. There are eight men’s national football teams at the tournament, namely - India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan.

This is the 14th edition of the biennial football tournament and this time there are two teams participating based on an invitation basis. Despite not being geographically in South Asia, Lebanon and Kuwait will be participating at the SAFF Championship 2023, to give the tournament a competitive edge.

There are two notable absentees from this SAFF Championship edition. Afghanistan and Sri Lanka are missing from the line-up. Both nations have previously participated in the tournament (and won) but, for different reasons, are going to miss the 2023 edition. Here is why:

Why are they absent?

Afghanistan has moved away from the SAFF and is part of the Central Asian Football Federation. With this move, the country becomes ineligible to participate in the tournament, unless it receives an invitation to do so.

As for Sri Lanka, the country initially expressed its intention to bid for the hosting rights of the 2023 edition of the SAFF Championship. However, on 21 January 2023, the country received a suspension from the governing body for world football, FIFA.

The ban makes Sri Lanka unable to neither host nor participate in the 2023 SAFF Championship, which comes as a huge blow to the country. Due to government interference in the FFSL elections, FIFA had to act and issue a ban, preventing the country from participation.

India are the defending champions heading into the 2023 edition of the SAFF Championship. The Blue Tigers won the 2021 edition by defeating Nepal in the final. The addition of Kuwait and Lebanon certainly makes things interesting. Furthermore, the inclusion of Pakistan will attract plenty of people to the stadium when India clashes with them, due to the historical connection between the two nations.