By Rajarshi Chakrabarty
The Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL) announced the appointment of Packeer Ali as the Head Coach of the Sri Lankan national football team after chairing an executive committee meeting with National Team Management Committee headed by Rohitha Fernando and Major General Athula Kodippili.
Packeer Ali, who hails from Matale has been handed a two-year contract by the technical committee. Packeer Ali who is a former Sri Lankan international made his debut in 1976 and played his club football for Colombo York FC later went onto captain the national side during the 1980’s.
Sri Lankan football team has been without a national team Coach since July 2017 before Dudley Steinwall was relieved of his duties along with Assistant Coach Devasagayam Rajamani and Goalkeeping Coach Mahinda Galagedera.
Sri Lanka is ranked at 200 in the FIFA rankings and Packeer Ali would have a monumental task to transform the national side to be a competitive force in the SAFF region for the upcoming SAFF Championship,2018 scheduled to be held in Dhaka in September.
“I shall be returning to Sri Lanka at the earliest to give my dedicated services to Sri Lanka Football. A dream comes true at last for me. I thank everybody again for making my dream come true and I assure you all that I will never let you all down. Pray for us and support us,” said Packeer Ali in a Facebook post.
