# 2021 Sri Lanka Super League

The 2021 Sri Lanka Super League was the first season of Sri Lanka Super League, after a 3-year delay. It is the top division of Sri Lankan football.

## Summary

The start of the season was impacted by COVID-19. After the 2018–19 season, the inaugural Sri Lanka Super League was scheduled to kick-off in April 2020, but was rescheduled to November, 29 January 2021 and finally started on 19 April 2021, due to concerns of the pandemic.
The season was forced to play on a single round-robin system. After the International Break at the end of matchday 3, the tournament recommencement was scheduled to 2 July 2021. But, the Football Sri Lanka announced the postponement on 16 June 2021, due to travel restrictions.

### Pre-season tournament

A pre season was launched with much glamour and delight, but the tournament was delayed further. Since the Sri Lanka national football team were set to play their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying second round games against Lebanon and South Korea in March, Football Sri Lanka conducted Sri Lanka Super League pre-season tournament without spectators.
Super League pre-season tournament was conducted with 10 clubs, divided in two groups, from 17 February to 24 March.

## Teams

The league is made up of 10 clubs that were selected from the Sri Lanka Champions League at the end of the 2018–19 season, after meeting the Football Federation of Sri Lanka's Club Licensing Criteria in association with the Asian Football Confederation.

### Teams and their divisions

    Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order.
| Team | Division |
| Blue Eagles | Kelaniya |
| Blue Star Sports Club | Kalutara |
| Colombo Football Club | Colombo |
| Defenders Football Club | Homagama |
| Navy Sea Hawks FC | Welisara |
| New Young's Sports Club | Wennappuwa |
| Ratnam Sports Club | Kotahena |
| Red Stars Sports Club | Aluthgama |
| Renown Sports Club | Kotahena |
| Up Country Lions Sports Club | Nawalapitiya |

## Foreign players

| Team | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 |
| Blue Eagles | | | | |
| Blue Star SC | Jerry Arepade Ombenbe | Mohamed Traoré | | |
| Colombo FC | Jean Yapo Seka | Bodric Tagne | Olumide Akofe | |
| Defenders FC | Muhammad Adil | Stephane Dang | | |
| Sea Hawks FC | Motohiro Kaneshiro | Chikara Tashiro | Samuel Kingston | |
| New Young's SC | | | | |
| Ratnam SC | Enoch Danso | Jide Jimoh | | |
| Red Star SC | Ismaila Abumere Ogudugu | Muritala Oladeni | Mohammed Mubarak | Emmanuel Godwin |
| Renown SC | Michael Job | Olumide Agbeti | | |
| Up Country Lions SC | George Abege | Elijah Ari | Martin Karndu | Eugene Swen |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Blue Star (C, Q) | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 21 | 9 | +12 | 22 | Qualification for AFC Cup preliminary round 1 |
| 2 | Sea Hawks | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 19 | |
| 3 | Colombo | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 11 | +11 | 19 | |
| 4 | Renown | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 17 | |
| 5 | Up Country Lions | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 8 | +9 | 16 | |
| 6 | Red Stars | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 18 | 16 | +2 | 10 | |
| 7 | Defenders | 9 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 10 | |
| 8 | New Young's | 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 31 | −18 | 7 | |
| 9 | Ratnam | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 16 | −11 | 3 | |
| 10 | Blue Eagles | 9 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 16 | −13 | 2 | |
* 1 2 Head-to-head points: Sea Hawks 3, Colombo 0.

## Results
### Fixture

| Teams | BST | CFC | DFC | SHW | NYS | RAT | RST | REN | UCL |
| Blue Eagles | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–6 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Blue Star | | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 2–1 |
| Colombo | | | 3–1 | 2–3 | 4–0 | 4–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 |
| Defenders | | | | 2–2 | 6–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 |
| Sea Hawks | | | | | 5–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| New Young's | | | | | | 3–1 | 4–4 | 1–2 | 1–4 |
| Ratnam | | | | | | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Red Stars | | | | | | | | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Renown | | | | | | | | | 1–0 |
| Up Country Lions | | | | | | | | | |

### Round 9
## Top goalscorers

| Player | Club | Goals |
| Senal Sandesh Pingho | Blue Star SC | 10 |
| Mohamed Rahman | Red Star SC | 8 |
| Mohamed Aakib | Colombo FC | 8 |
| Ahmed Waseem Razeek | Up Country Lions SC | 6 |
| Chamod Dilshan | Colombo FC | 5 |
| Ismaila Abumere Ogudugu | Red Star SC | 5 |
| Rifkhan Mohamed | Defenders FC | 5 |
| Mohamed Hasmeer | Sea Hawks FC | 5 |
| Zohar Mohamed Zarwan | Colombo FC | 4 |
| Chathuranga Sanjeewa | New Young's SC | 4 |
| Motohiro Kaneshiro | Sea Hawks FC | 4 |
| Jerry Arepade Ombenbe | Blue Star SC | 4 |
| Jean Yapo Seka | Colombo FC | 4 |

## Own goals

| Player | Club | Own goals | Against |
| Olumide Agbeti | Renown SC | 1 | New Young's SC |
| Madushanka Fernando | New Young's SC | 1 | Defenders FC |

## Clean sheets

| Player | Club | Clean sheet |
| Udayanga Perera | Sea Hawks FC | 4 |
| Supun Kaveesh | Blue Star SC | 4 |
| Rasik Rishad | Renown SC | 4 |
| Mohammed Mubarak | Red Star SC | 3 |
| Weerasinghe Sujan Perera | Up Country Lions SC | 3 |
| Nuwan Gimhana | Colombo FC | 2 |

## Champions

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Blue Star SC | Kalutara | Kalutara Stadium | 15,000 |