Matara City Club creates history by winning Champions League

I n the good old days that Sanath Jayasuriya terrified bowlers in international cricket, his routine before a game of cricket was warming up by playing football with his team mates. A keen follower of the game and a powerful kicker, football was introduced to the Sri Lankan team culture during Sanath’s captaincy not just to warm-up but as an activity to bond the players as well. It certainly worked.

Sanath has held a few cricket posts since his retirement but he surprised many when he took over as the President of the newly formed Matara City Club football team. There’s been always huge interest for football in Matara but the players were divided representing different clubs. With Sanath forming Matara City Club, all footballers came together under one roof and in 12 years time they have gone onto win football’s biggest prize – Champions League.

Sanath’s captaincy style was quite unique to cricket. He treated everyone equal and lead from the front. The same formula was applied for football too in his capacity as President and Matara created history by winning an event organized by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka for the first time ever. Sanath’s right hand man during the club’s success was businessman Najeeb Deen, who is the club’s CEO and main sponsor. In a bid to make the club a vibrant force in local football, Najeeb brought down a couple of overseas players as well from Nigeria. The club played 13 games in the season winning ten, drawing two and losing one. Boadu Prince of Matara City Club was declared Player of the Tournament while Rusiru Dilshan of the same club became the Best Goalkeeper of the competition.