SAFF football championship put off to May 2008

New Delhi, Oct 20 - The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship, scheduled to be held in December this year, has been postponed to May 2008 following a decision taken by the SAFF executive committee which met in Colombo last week.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) had requested for the postponement as the 2010 World Cup qualifiers as well as the professional and national football leagues in India would clash with the SAFF football event.

The eight-team event for the South Asian countries was scheduled to be hosted jointly by Maldives and Sri Lanka. The two countries will continue to be the hosts. The draw for the event will now be held in Maldives on Feb 26, 2008.

The executive committee has also cleared one under-16 tournament for SAFF member countries in India and one under-16 girls event in Sri Lanka.

The meeting was chaired by SAFF president Ganesh Thapa, with representatives from Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka present.


Source: Earth Time