Farhan's Jersey Is Mine, They Can Fight Over Hamza's: Sri Lanka Coach Lights Up SAFF Press Conference in Dhaka

Before the SAFF Championship battle begins on the field in Dhaka, Sri Lanka coach Abdullah Al Mutairi turned a press conference into an hour of entertainment. At the press conference held on Wednesday (4 November) at a five-star hotel in the capital, he praised Bangladesh, joked about his own team's title chances, and put in a claim for Bangladesh footballer Farhan Ali Wahid's jersey.

His most talked-about remark concerned Farhan's jersey. Mutairi said: 'I have told my players and strikers that in the Bangladesh-Sri Lanka match, Farhan's jersey must come to me. If anyone else tries to get Farhan's jersey, I will suspend him for a year.'

For Hamza Chowdhury's jersey, however, he set no such ban for his players. Laughing, his final word was: 'They can fight among themselves over Hamza's jersey, I have no problem with that.'

At the start of the press conference, the Sri Lanka coach described his team's preparation. He said the side has been working for almost a year with the Asian Cup qualifiers as its target. Alongside a friendly against Bhutan, Sri Lanka played two matches against Seychelles and one against Mauritius in September.

He also delivered a major blow ahead of the tournament: two of the team's players have suffered ACL injuries.

Mutairi also spoke about the number of expatriate and heritage players in the Sri Lanka squad. According to him, there are about 18-19 such players in the team, including footballers who play from England's fifth and sixth divisions up to Germany's second Bundesliga. The country's football federation follows the policy that anyone with Sri Lankan blood will be given the chance to represent the country, he said.

On the question of favourites, Mutairi did not want to talk up his own team. He joked: 'If our federation hears that I have called Sri Lanka favourites, they will only increase the pressure.' He then gave his own list of favourites: Bangladesh first, India second and Pakistan third. Laughing, he added that he did not think Sri Lanka had any chance at all, but that the team had come to fight.

Asked about expectations of reaching the final given Sri Lanka's recent improvement and good results, Mutairi replied that he would indeed receive a large bonus under his contract if Sri Lanka won the SAFF title, but he did not want to ruin long-term planning for the sake of this one tournament. His main target is to qualify Sri Lanka for the Asian Cup for the first time in 2032, and the next four years' plan has been built around that goal.

The Sri Lanka coach also commented positively on the impact of heritage players in South Asian football. Citing Bangladesh's Hamza Chowdhury, Shamit Shome and Farhan as examples, he said the mindset of treating such players separately as foreigners must change; they must be accepted as part of their country's football. He also believes the picture of South Asian football could change if more such players play together.

At the press conference, Sri Lanka captain Sujan Perera, who plays in Bangladesh's domestic football, was also asked whether his familiarity with Bangladesh's players and grounds would be an extra advantage. Perera replied that knowing Bangladesh's players and his experience of playing in these conditions would help him.