Football in Sri Lanka

Football is a popular sport in Sri Lanka. Though not as popular game as cricket but it is definitely gaining a stronghold in the country. It can however be said that the popularity of football is somewhat overshadowed by the craze of cricket in Sri Lanka. This holds true for the entire sub continent, the same also follows for Sri Lanka where the top-level football team in Sri Lanka stands somewhat in the shadow of the country's test cricket team. The Sri Lanka national football team is the national team of Sri Lanka and is controlled by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka. It is the governing body of Football in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan team was known as the Ceylon national football team until 1972, when Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka. The team is yet to make their first appearance in World Cup or Asian Cup championship play but they are making strong efforts to feature in the Football World cup . Blue Star SC is another Sri Lankan football Club.

Football Stadiums in Sri Lanka :

Kalutara Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Kalutara, Sri Lanka. It is currently used mostly for football matches and hosts the home games of Blue Star SC. The stadium holds 15,000 people.
Sugathadasa Stadium is another multi-use stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 25,000 people. The 10th South Asian Games - Colombo 2006 was held at Sugathadasa Stadium in August 2006.

Major achievements of the Sri Lankan Football team :

- The Sri Lankan team emerged as the runner’s up in 2006 AFC Challenge Cup.
- The Sri Lankan Football team emerged as the runner’s up in 1993 and secured - 4rth place in 1997 in the South Asian Football Federation Cup.
- The Sri Lanka Football team was also the winners in the South Asian Football - Federation Cup in 1995.
- The side did qualify for the second stage of Asian qualifying for the 2006 World - Cup, leaving their supporters with hope for a brighter future.

The foundation stones for a DFB football youth centre sponsored by the German football federation have been laid in Sri Lanka region to upgrade the level of Football in Sri Lanka. The training facilities and training centers have been uplifted to give the best to the football players so that the name of Sri Lankan Football team features soon in the list world cup playing nations.