Sri Lanka Football team to play for Bangabandhu Cup

Sri Lanka National Football Team will play a minimum of three preliminary games for the Bangabandhu Cup, prior to qualifying for the semi-final round.

The Bangabandhu Cup or Bangabandhu Gold Cup is an international association football tournament organized by the Bangladesh Football Federation as a tribute to father of the nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. It was inaugurated in 1996 and this will be the fourth time the tournament will be held. Eight teams from Asian Football Confederation affiliated countries will participate in this edition.

A total of fifteen matches will be played from January 8 to 20 at two different venues in Dhaka (Bangabandhu National Stadium and Jessore Shams-Ul-Huda Stadium).

Sri Lanka will play a minimum of three preliminary games prior to qualifying for the semi-final round. The Sri Lankan teams' performances have been good after the SAFF tournament, and FFSL is hopeful to be in Cup contention.

Sri Lanka team will be captained by Landa Hewage Kavidu Ishan and will play in group 'A' along with Bangladesh, Nepal and Malaysia. Group 'B' will comprise Bangladesh Olympic team, Bahrain, Cambodia and Maldives.