SAFF Championship:Can Nepal break the jinx?
After several postponements,the 13th edition of the South Asian Federation Football Championship will kick off in Male,Maldives on 1st October,2021. The tournament was moved to Maldives,following Bangladesh's refusal to host the biennial tournament due to COVID-19 pandemic and lack of sponsors. This is the second time Maldives is hosting the championship.In 2008 Maldives and Sri Lanka had jointly hosted the tournament. Unlike previous editions,the championship will be conducted in a round-robin format with the top two finishers contesting the final Understandably,the tournament has been hit hard and reduced to five teams- Nepal, India,Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Maldives. Bhutan was denied permission to participate in the championship by its government because of COVID.While Pakistan was forced to sit out the competition.Keep in mind,FIFA has suspended the Pakistan Football Federation because of third -party interference for an indefinite period. India has had a stranglehold ...