Bangladesh to face Sri Lanka in opener of SAFF championship
Bangladesh will take on Sri Lanka in one of the opening matches of the SAFF Championship scheduled to be held from 1 to 13 October in Maldives, reports news agency BSS.
The South Asian Football Federation finalised the fixture of the tournament with Nepal playing against host Maldives in the inaugural match of the fixture on the same day.
Bangladesh will play their second match against India on 3 October and will take on host Maldives on 6 October before playing against Nepal on 11 October. All the matches will be held at the National Football Stadium in Male.
This edition will see the participation of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and host Maldives. The teams will play each other in a single leg round robin format with the top two teams progressing to the final.
Pakistan however, is unable to compete in the championship due to a FIFA suspension.
This is the second time that Maldives will be hosting the SAFF Championship after 2008 when they co-hosted the event with Sri Lanka.
The last SAFF championship was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2018 where Maldives and India made it to the final. Maldives won the SAFF title that year beating India by 2-1 goals.