Sri Lanka national under-23 football team

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 U-23 Football Team
Nickname(s)සිංහ සිංහයා
siṁha siṁhayā
(Simha Lions)
AssociationFootball Federation of Sri Lanka
ConfederationAFC (Asia)
Sub-confederationSAFF (South Asia)
Head coachNikola Kavazovic
CaptainDananju Madushan
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 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
2016Did not Qualify3 003114
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
2013Did not Qualify5 023117
20163 003114
2018TBDTBD
Total0/2-------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

2016

  Win   Draw   Lose

6 February 2016 SA Games India0–1 Sri LankaGuwahati, India
14:15 Report Rifnas  14' Stadium: Nehru Stadium, Guwahati
Attendance: 8,000
8 February 2016 SA Games Maldives3–1 Sri LankaGuwahati, India
17:00 Nashid  10'
Ansar  28' ,  58'		 Report Rifnas  61' Stadium: Nehru Stadium, Guwahati

2017

  Win   Draw   Lose

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

  Win   Draw   Lose


22 March 2019 (2019-03-22) 2020 AFC U-23 qualifiersPalestine v Sri Lanka, Isa Town, Bahrain
--:-- UTC+7 Stadium: Khalifa Sports City Stadium
24 March 2019 (2019-03-24) 2020 AFC U-23 qualifiersSri Lanka v Bahrain, Riffa, Bahrain
--:-- UTC+7 Stadium: Bahrain National Stadium
26 March 2019 (2019-03-26) 2020 AFC U-23 qualifiersBangladesh v Sri Lanka, Isa Town, Bahrain
--:-- UTC+7 Stadium: Khalifa Sports City Stadium

Squad
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Prabath Arunasiri 2 0
12 1GK Dhanushka Rajapaksha 2 0
22 1GK Mohamed Uzman 0 0
3 2DF Asikumar Rahuman (1993-12-31) December 31, 1993 7 0 Pelicans SC
17 2DF Sunil Roshan 2 0
21 2DF Shanaka Wijesingha (1992-12-26) December 26, 1992 1 0
2 2DF Oshad Perera 0 0
6 2DF Chameera De Silva 1 0
13 2DF Mohamed Nifras 2 0
7 2DF Chaturanga Madushan (1993-11-16) November 16, 1993 8 0 Army
18 2DF Tharindu Lakmal 2 0
20 2DF Chameera Sajith 2 0
4 3MF Sahayam Godwin (1994-12-10) December 10, 1994 3 0
5 3MF Mohamed Rizkhan 2 0
7 3MF Mohamed Cassim 3 0
10 3MF Dhananju Madushan (C) 3 0
14 3MF Mohamed Rawzan 1 0
16 3MF Hasahn Darshaka 3 0
21 3MF Shanaka Wijesena 1 0
9 3MF Zarwan Johar (1996-02-15) February 15, 1996 8 4 Renown
45 3MF Mohamed Shiraz Zawahir 0 0
8 4FW Udara Gamage 1 0
9 4FW Pradeep Rodrigo 1 0
11 4FW Iqbal Humaid 0 0
19 4FW Janith Pumal 1 0

Honors

See also

References
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