4 guest nations on SAFF C’ship radar

The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) is preparing to invite guest nations to take part in the upcoming SAFF Championship after all South Asian nations, bar Sri Lanka, confirmed their participation.

The 14th SAFF Championship is scheduled to begin on June 21 in Bengaluru and will feature eight teams, with one or two nations beyond the South Asia region being invited depending on the number of participating nations from South Asian.

India, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal and Bhutan have already confirmed their participation and there is hardly any possibility to include Sri Lanka, whose football federation was suspended by FIFA.

So, concerned authorities are mulling to include two guest teams from among four further invitees.

A SAFF secretariat insider informed that they would invite 54th-ranked Saudi Arabia, 95th-ranked Vietnam, 138th-ranked Malaysia and 149th-ranked Indonesia before choosing two.

"The scheduled of the SAFF Championship has been fixed outside the FIFA Window [June 12 to 20], so it will be a challenging job to get guest teams since they may have domestic commitments," said a source seeking anonymity. "However, we will try our best. The All Indian Football Federation will also be trying to convince the guest nations to play the SAFF Championship."

The draw for the tournament will be held after the SAFF Congress on May 6 in Dhaka.