South Asian Championship confirmed for 10-22 Dec

The 2007 South Asian Football Federation Championship has been confirmed for 10-22 December in the National Stadium in Male in The Maldives and the Sugathadha Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka. A meeting of the South Asian Football Federation held in New Delhi agreed to the timing and venues and decided the opening ceremony will be held in Male and the closing ceremony, along with the tournament final, in Colombo.

This year's tournament will include India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Of the six editions played so far, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are the only three nations to have won the biannual championship.

Scording to Xinhua, the Football Association of Maldives is hoping to swap the opening ceremony for the closing. "Right now it's agreed to have the opening ceremony in Male. But we want the closing ceremony to be held in Male instead of opening ceremony," FAM Vice President Abdul Hameed Abdul Ghafoor said. "So we have decided to have a further discussion to finalize it."