SAFF C'ship in May 2018?
The SAFF Championship is all set to be deferred by four months due to India's international and domestic commitments. The SAFF secretariat has, in this regard, prepared a proposal to hold the regional football extravaganza from May 1 to 12 next year in Dhaka.
Bangladesh were supposed to host the eight-nation tournament for the third time from December 25 to January 5 next year, but the All India Football Federation (AIFF) did not give their approval, owing to the deferment of the franchise-based Indian Super League (ISL).
The home-and-away based ISL was supposed to start in October and end in early December, but it has been deferred by one month as India will host the FIFA U-17 World Cup which will be played [October 6-28] in major stadiums, which are also venues of the ISL.
"We can't hold the SAFF Championship without India, who have a busy international and domestic schedule. So we had to drop the idea of holding it in December this year. Now we have prepared a proposal to hold it from May 1 next year after the completion of the ISL," said SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal yesterday.
"Generally the ISL takes nearly two-and-a-half months to be completed, but this time the format of the league may change and the number of participants may be increased. So it might take more time than usual, which is why we want to host the next SAFF Championship in May 2018, before the start of Ramadan next year," Helal said, adding that they had already sent the new proposal to the AIFF for the final nod.
The SAFF secretariat is also uncertain regarding the number of participants as Pakistan have not been taking part in any international tournaments due to internal problems while Afghanistan, who quit SAFF, were invited to take part in the championship.
"We will decide on the number of participating teams at our next executive meeting as we are not sure whether Pakistan will take part after they withdrew from the upcoming age-level tournaments citing internal issues. The meeting will also have to take a decision whether to invite Afghanistan again. There is a demand from the sponsors to hold the championship with eight nations," Helal told reporters.
This year SAFF will hold three age-level tournaments. Nepal will host the SAFF U-15 Boys' Championship from September 18 to 27 while Bhutan will host the SAFF Under-18 Men's Championship from September 22 to October 1. The SAFF U-15 Women's Championship will be held in Bangladesh from November 16 to 25.
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