SAFF C’ship to invite outsiders

The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) on Friday decided to go beyond the South Asian territory to invite stronger nations to the upcoming SAFF Championship in a bid to develop its regional football teams, making the tournament more competitive as well.

The decision was taken at the executive meeting in presence of all members except the Maldives. The committee decided that the 13th edition of the tournament would start on June 21 in Bengaluru, India. 

"We first approved the venue of Bengaluru, which will host the tournament from June 21, and decided to invite teams beyond the South Asian region because we want to make room for the South Asian teams to play more competitive matches and develop our national teams by playing stronger opponents beyond South Asia," SAFF general secretary Anwarul Haque Helal told The Daily Star after the meeting on Friday.

Helal said that the deadline for the aspiring nations to fill in their entries is till April 20 and the draw for the championship is set to be held on May 6.