St. Mary’s SC clinch inaugural FFSL Champions Cup

By Susil Premalal

Jaffna’s St. Mary’s Sports Club created history by winning the inaugural FFSL Champions Cup 2025–26, marking a major breakthrough in Sri Lanka’s inter-club football.
The tournament, featuring eight top teams, was held at the Racecourse Grounds in Colombo. In the final, St. Mary’s defeated one of the country’s oldest clubs, Saunders SC Colombo, 3–1 on penalties after the match ended 1–1 in regulation time.
This victory is particularly significant, as it marks the first time St. Mary’s SC has won a national-level football title.
St. Mary’s took an early lead through Danjuma Gumbari in the 3rd minute, but Saunders responded quickly with Clauvice Franck equalising in the 5th minute. Despite several scoring opportunities for both sides, neither team was able to find the winner during regular time.
The match remained intense throughout, with a few minor on-field confrontations, which were controlled by match referees.
In the decisive penalty shootout, St. Mary’s converted through Danjuma Gumbari, S. Aarnikan and Joha Lawani, while Mohamed Zaid was the only scorer for Saunders. St. Mary’s earned a prize of one million rupees for their victory. The team had earlier impressed in the Champions League and continued their strong form in this tournament.
The competition, organised by the Football Federation of Sri Lanka (FFSL), featured Saunders SC, Java Lane SC, St. Mary’s SC, New Star SC, Super Sun SC, Serandib SC, Solid SC and Police SC.
In the semi-finals, St. Mary’s defeated Java Lane SC 5–4 on penalties, while they had earlier beaten New Star SC 2–1 in the knockout stage.