SAFF Championship to be held in India

Sports Reporter :
The South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship will be held in India from June 20 to July 3. The SAFF was scheduled to be held in Nepal. Earlier, the All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) was the only organisation, which submitted their proposal at the SAFF Headquarters to stage the SAFF Championship. But the ANFA failed to fulfill the condition of sponsor organisations. So, the SAFF took decision on Tuesday in a virtual meeting that India will arrange the SAFF Championship.
General Secretary of SAFF Anwarul Haq Helal said, ” The sponsor organisations wanted that India will host the SAFF Championship due to financial causes. The All India Football Association (AIFA) is agreed to host the SAFF Championship.”
Kerala of India hosted SAFF in 2015. The venue of the SAFF Championship is yet to be finalised. The venue will be finalised before March 10. A total of six teams will take part in the SAFF Championship, the most prestigious football meet of the South Asian Region. The participating teams are: India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan and Maldives. Sri Lanka cannot take part in the football competition as FIFA has banned Sri Lanka.
Helal said, ” The ANFA submitted their proposal to host the SAFF. But the marketing organisation and the other sponsor organisations showed their eagerness to stage the SAFF in India. So, we took decision that India would host the football meet.
Meanwhile, the All India Football Association has given assurance that it will manage the visa for the Pakistani players and coaching staff.