On FIFA’s ranking of 211 national men’s football teams, the #lka team ranks 207th. In a country where football is the second most popular sport after cricket, and is played in schools and on streets islandwide, why isn’t our national team more successful? #lka #FIFAWorldCup 1/7 
According to former national captain & under-23 head coach Mohamed Amanulla, this has to do with the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), which stands accused of mismanagement of funds & failure to follow instructions provided by FIFA and the Ministry of Sports. 2/7
Along with Amanulla, former FFSL presidents Anura de Silva and Ranjith Rodrigo have also publicly held the administration responsible for bringing Sri Lankan football to such a low standard globally and regionally. 3/7
Amanulla said, “We have been forced to come out in public because the misdeeds keep on continuing. If they were transparent and passionate about the sport, Sri Lanka would not have to suffer humiliatingly in recent tournaments and our global ranking should not be 207.” 4/7
He said the team has no fixed training schedule & no practice ground in good condition. “We used to play at least 40 matches per year, but now not even 10 matches are played. Players do not have boots. They do not even get LKR 1000 per day when they are out in the field.” 5/7
He continued, “There must be a concrete change in the system and [they must] conduct tournaments regularly throughout the year. If our heads at FFSL do not put the system on the correct path, they must give way to someone who will bring football back to our past glory.” 6/7
The FFSL will face elections imposed by the courts next month, after repeated infighting and accusations. The elections, initially planned for October, are alleged to have been postponed to allow current FFSL officials to attend the ongoing #FIFAWorldCup. 7/7
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