FIFA has informed the Football Federation of Sri Lanka that Sri Lanka’s men’s national football team is not eligible to participate in Men’s Olympic Tournament 2024 – Asian Qualifiers and the U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Qualifiers due to the suspension of FFSL.

This was reportedly communicated by FIFA through a letter to the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL).

The letter states that, when AFC opened the entry for the competition on 13th April 2022 – Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 Asian Qualifiers and AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Qualifiers – FFSL submitted its entry on 10th May 2022.

However, as stated in the FIFA Circular, the FIFA Council has suspended the FSSL with effect from 21 January 2023 until further notice and as a result, in accordance with Article 13 of the FIFA Statutes, the FFSL has lost all its membership rights resulting in, inter alia, the FFSL representatives and clubs/teams no longer being entitled to participate in international competitions until the suspension is lifted.

“Accordingly, we must inform you that the FSSL’s men’s national team is not currently eligible to participate in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament 2024 – Asian Qualifiers and the AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024™ – Qualifiers,” the letter said.

“The Draw Ceremony is scheduled to take place on 25 May 2023 and, the FFSL’s men’s national team will definitely be removed from the Competition should the suspension on FFSL not be lifted by Thursday, 11 May 2023 [two (2) weeks prior to the Draw Ceremony.”