Sri Lanka U-23 Football Team
Nickname(s)සිංහ සිංහයා
siṁha siṁhayā
(Simha Lions)
AssociationFootball Federation of Sri Lanka
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Sub-confederationSAFF (South Asia)
Head coachMohamed Amanulla
CaptainDananju Madushan
Top scorerZarwan Johar
FIFA codeSRI
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Sri Lanka 1–0 Nepal   
(Islamabad, Pakistan; March 29, 2004)
Biggest win
 Sri Lanka 4–0 Bhutan 
(Colombo, Sri Lanka; August 21, 2006)
Biggest defeat
 Palestine 9–0 Sri Lanka 
(Isa Town, Bahrain; March 22, 2019)
 Sri Lanka 0–9 Bahrain 
(Isa Town, Bahrain; March 24, 2019)
South Asian Games
Appearances3
Best result Silver Medal (2006)

Sri Lanka National U-23 Team is the national team that participates in international football tournaments, such as the Summer Olympics and the AFC U-23 Championship representing Sri Lanka. The team has won bronze medals at the South Asian Games in 2004 and at the 2014 Lusophony Games. The Sri Lanka National U-23 Team won the silver medal at the 2006 South Asian Games, the first silver medal won by Sri Lanka at an international tournament.

Sri Lanka didn't have an official U-23 team. Before 2013, the Sri Lanka national football team participated in the Summer Olympic qualifications and other international events. Sri Lanka has yet to participate in a Summer Olympic football tournament.

History

Due to the popularity of cricket in Sri Lanka, football has not been popular. But it has gained popularity with Sri Lanka's youth in recent years, and Sri Lanka's National U-23 Football team was formed as a result. In the 2010s the Sri Lanka national football team competed in international football tournaments. The Sri Lanka U-23 team has won a silver medal and two bronze medals in competitions.

The 10th edition of the South Asian Games was held in Sri Lanka in 2006. In the football tournament, Sri Lanka competed in the group stage against the Pakistan, Bhutan and Maldives U-23 football teams. Sri Lanka beat Maldives and Bhutan to qualify for the semi-final stage and beat India in penalties to qualify for the final with Pakistan. Sri Lanka won the silver medal as a result. In the 2004 tournament Sri Lanka had won the bronze medal.

Sri Lanka participated in the AFC U-23 Championship Qualifiers competition as an inexperienced football team, and failed to win a single match. They achieved a draw against Palestine, scoring their first goal in a major U-23 football tournament. They also tied with Pakistan but lost 4–0 to the powerful and experienced Syria national under-23 football team. Their fifth game was against host Saudi Arabia, and they lost 7–0, their biggest defeat in tournament play. In the last match of the qualifiers, Sri Lanka played against the Kyrgyzstan team and lost 5–0, failing to qualify for the inaugural AFC U-22 Championship tournament.

The Palestine Championship tournament was organized by the Palestinian Football Association, which invited the national U-23 teams of Palestine, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Jordan to compete. Sri Lanka played all three teams and lost each match, failing to score a goal in the tournament.

The Sri Lanka national U-23 football team participated in the 2014 Lusophony Games. The Sri Lanka team advanced to the semi-final stage of the tournament by defeating Macau and drew against São Tomé and Príncipe. In the semi-finals Sri Lanka lost the match against Mozambique 1–0 and won the bronze medal match against Macau 3–0. This was the first time that Sri Lanka U-23 team had placed at a major international tournament.

Sri Lanka entered in the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship Qualification stage with the national U-23 teams from United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen and Tajikistan. Sri Lanka lost both opening games against the host UAE and Yemen 4–0 and 5–0. They lost to Tajikistan 5–1 in the last group match. Sri Lanka scored only one goal in the tournament. After losing all three matches, Sri Lanka failed to qualify for the 2016 Olympic Football Tournament.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Olympic Games finals Olympic Games qualifications
Hosts/year Result GP W D L GS GA GD GP W D L GS GA
Brazil 2016Did not Qualify3 003114
Japan 2020TBDTBD
Total0/2-------3003114

AFC U-23 Championship

AFC U-22 finals AFC U-22 Championship qualification
Hosts/Year Result GP W D L GS GA GD GP W D L GS GA
Oman 2013Did not Qualify5 023117
Qatar 20163 003114
China 2018WithdrewWithdrew
Thailand 2020Did not qualify 3003020
Uzbekistan 2022 3003013
Qatar 2024SuspendedSuspended
Saudi Arabia 2026To be determinedTo be determined
Total0/7-------8026231

South Asian Games

Year Host Pos. P W D L GF GA
2004 Pakistan3/7430120
2006 Sri Lanka2/8540163
2010 Bangladesh5/8311112
2016 India5/6210123
Total 14914118

Fixtures and results

  Win   Draw   Lose

2016

6 February 2016 SA Games India  0–1  Sri Lanka Guwahati, India
14:15 Report Rifnas 14' Stadium: Nehru Stadium, Guwahati
Attendance: 8,000
8 February 2016 SA Games Maldives  3–1  Sri Lanka Guwahati, India
17:00 Nashid 10'
Ansar 28' , 58'		 Report Rifnas 61' Stadium: Nehru Stadium, Guwahati

2017

19 July 2017 AFC U-23 Q. Iran  Withdrew  Sri Lanka
21 July 2017 AFC U-23 Q. Sri Lanka  Withdrew  Oman
23 July 2017 AFC U-23 Q. Kyrgyzstan  Withdrew  Sri Lanka

2019

22 March 2019 (2019-03-22) 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification Group B Palestine  9–0  Sri Lanka Isa Town, Bahrain
19:30 UTC+5:30
Report Stadium: Khalifa Sports City Stadium
Attendance: 1,162
Referee: Kim Dae-yong (South Korea)
24 March 2019 (2019-03-24) 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification Group B Sri Lanka  0–9  Bahrain Riffa, Bahrain
22:30 UTC+5:30 Report
Stadium: Bahrain National Stadium
Attendance: 2,746
Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
26 March 2019 (2019-03-26) 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification Group B Bangladesh  2–0  Sri Lanka Isa Town, Bahrain
19:30 UTC+5:30
Report Stadium: Khalifa Sports City Stadium
Attendance: 2,789
Referee: Kim Dae-yong (South Korea)

2021

27 October 2021 (2021-10-27) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification Group A Syria  5–0  Sri Lanka Doha, Qatar
20:00 Malta 1'
Bashmani 25', 85'
Al-Hallak 42'
Basith 70' (.o.g)		 Report Stadium: TBC
29 October 2021 (2021-10-29) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification Group A Sri Lanka  0–5  Qatar Doha, Qatar
Stadium: TBC
31 October 2021 (2021-10-31) 2022 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification Group A Yemen  3–0  Sri Lanka Doha, Qatar
Stadium: TBC

Coaching staff

Position Name
Head coach Sri Lanka Mohamed Amanulla
Assistant coach Thailand Ratnam Weerasak Justmin
Goalkeeping coach Sri Lanka Saman Dayawansa
Trainer India Marcus Ferreira

Squad

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Prabath Arunasiri 2 0 Sri Lanka
12 1GK Dhanushka Rajapaksha 2 0 Sri Lanka
22 1GK Mohamed Uzman 0 0 Sri Lanka
3 2DF Asikumar Rahuman (1993-12-31) December 31, 1993 7 0 Sri Lanka Pelicans SC
17 2DF Sunil Roshan 2 0 Sri Lanka
21 2DF Shanaka Wijesingha (1992-12-26) December 26, 1992 1 0 Sri Lanka
2 2DF Oshad Perera 0 0 Sri Lanka
6 2DF Chameera De Silva 1 0 Sri Lanka
13 2DF Mohamed Nifras 2 0 Sri Lanka
7 2DF Chaturanga Madushan (1993-11-16) November 16, 1993 8 0 Sri Lanka Army
18 2DF Tharindu Lakmal 2 0 Sri Lanka
20 2DF Chameera Sajith 2 0 Sri Lanka
4 3MF Sahayam Godwin (1994-12-10) December 10, 1994 3 0 Sri Lanka
5 3MF Mohamed Rizkhan 2 0 Sri Lanka
7 3MF Mohamed Cassim 3 0 Sri Lanka
10 3MF Dhananju Madushan (C) 3 0 Sri Lanka
14 3MF Mohamed Rawzan 1 0 Sri Lanka
16 3MF Hasahn Darshaka 3 0 Sri Lanka
21 3MF Shanaka Wijesena 1 0 Sri Lanka
9 3MF Zarwan Johar (1996-02-15) February 15, 1996 8 4 Sri Lanka Renown
8 4FW Udara Gamage 1 0 Sri Lanka
9 4FW Pradeep Rodrigo 1 0 Sri Lanka
11 4FW Iqbal Humaid 0 0 Sri Lanka
19 4FW Janith Pumal 1 0 Sri Lanka

Honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ Goa-India win the Lusofonia Games football tournament blog.cpdfootball.de. Retrieved 7 September 2021
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