Sri Lanka eye better FIFA ranking gains with Maldives friendlies
Sri Lanka will meet Maldives on September 6 for the first time since June 14, 2022, and the two teams will face each other again on September 9, as the hosts look to maintain or better their 3-1 winning streak this year.
Sri Lanka is keen in maintaining their recent form that helped already record three wins this season
“Sri Lanka football is on the rise, and we need to sustain that status. It was a few months ago we managed to reach 196 in the FIFA rankings, after idling many years beyond 200. There was a time when Sri Lanka was almost at the edge in global rankings. But we have improved gradually, and it’s only justifiable that we progress beyond where we are now,” a morally bolstered President of Sri Lanka Football (SLF), Jaswar Umar, told the Sunday Times.
Since 2010, Sri Lanka has met Maldives four times, but the regional neighbours have dominated during most of the outings with an aggregate of 16 goals. Maldives have won three out of the four matches, with a high-scoring 4-all draw at the 2021 Four Nations Tournament in Colombo completing the tally. The first outing on September 6 comes after 12 years and four days since Maldives thrashed Sri Lanka 10-0 in a SAFF Championship match played in Kathmandu, Nepal.
“Sri Lanka has the potential to win both games this time, given the recent form of both teams. And it’s happening in Colombo, where we are certain we will be able to see a plethora of supporters of the home team,” Jaswar optimistically stated.
With the recent rise from 200 to 196 and two official wins, Sri Lanka surely holds the edge against Maldives, who slipped seven slots to 171 following two international defeats. Sri Lanka has intentions beyond merely hosting Maldives in Colombo, as they seek more room to climb in the FIFA rankings if they manage to win both games, or complete the series with a win and
a draw.
“It’s all about safeguarding and improving our status further in the global rankings, with four more games of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers pending. Sri Lanka appeared in two games – against Thailand and Chinese Taipei – recording a win and a loss. On March 25, Sri Lanka lost to hosts Thailand 1-0 in Bangkok, and comprehensively overcame Chinese Taipei 3-1 in Colombo on June 10. Their next outing will be against group toppers Turkmenistan, currently ranked 140 globally.
“We have five weeks before meeting Turkmenistan, and they are the toughest opponent in the group. The two games against Maldives will ideally serve as important preparation, since it has been nearly three months since Sri Lanka played an international,” added Umar.
With 24 teams divided into six groups of four to play home-and-away round-robin matches, Sri Lanka’s next outing in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers will be against Turkmenistan on October 9 in Colombo. On October 14, Turkmenistan will host Sri Lanka in Ashgabat, and the islanders would then have to wait until November 18 before they host Thailand in Colombo. The Group D fixtures of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers will come to an end with Chinese Taipei hosting Sri Lanka in Taipei on March 31 next year, more than four months after their last scheduled international.
“There are windows for international friendlies in between, from March 2025 to March 2026, during the period of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers. With four more official games to complete, we also can make use of this window to play more international friendly games,” he noted.
The two games against Maldives, according to Umar, have been branded as the South Asian Super Cup, a frequent two-match international outing Sri Lanka intends to play against other nations from the region. This trend, as Umar stated, will become more frequent as time passes. Sri Lanka adopted the same preparation method with their Under-23 national men’s team, who are now in Qatar en route to Kyrgyzstan for the 2026 AFC U-23 Asian Cup Qualifications. Sri Lanka U-23s have been slotted alongside hosts Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Palestine in the week-long competition, and along the way they played against Qatar in Doha to record an impressive 1-all draw, and also faced Syria, both teams competing in the same qualifiers from other groups.