2016–17 Sri Lanka Football Premier League

2016–17 was the 32nd season of Sri Lanka Football Premier League.

Sri Lanka Football Premier League

Season	2016–17
Champions	Colombo
Relegated	Division I
Matches played	100
Goals scored	331 (3.31 per match)
Top goalscorer	Job Michael and M.N.M. Izzadeen
Biggest home win	Negombo 8-0 Country Lions (6 August 2016)
Biggest away win	Thihariya 1-9 Renown (23 July 2016)
← 2015 2017–18 →

The defending champions Colombo Football Club regained the title for the second time by defeating Renown SC 3–1 in the championship round.

Teams Allocation

If this season is playing according to the previous season. The competition was played with 18 teams. The teams were divided into two groups of nine. The teams played round robin matches and the four group best teams of each group qualified for the Final Stage. In that stage all the eight teams will play round robin matches and the team that take first place in the group will be the Champions.Pelicans SC, Highlanders SC, Kalutara Park SC and Don Bosco were relegated in the previous tournament.

Clubs

Sugathadasa

Kalutara Stadium

Jayatilaka Stadium

Matara Stadium

Alburt Pieris

Navy

Prison Ground

Locations of major football grounds in Sri Lanka

Club Name	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Air Force Sports Club	Ekala	Ekala Football Ground	1,000
Blue Star SC	Kalutara	Kalutara Stadium	15,000
Civil Security Force SC	Colombo	City Football Complex	1,000
Colombo FC	Colombo	Sugathadasa Stadium	28,000
Crystal Palace SC	Gampola	Jayathilake Stadium	5,000
Java Lane SC	Colombo	City Football Complex	1,000
Matara City SC	Matara	Matara Football Complex	2,000
Negambo Youth	Negombo	Maristella Ground	1,000
New Young's SC	Wennappuwa	Sir Albert F. Peiries Stadium	5,000
Renown Sports Club	Colombo	CR & FC Grounds	2,500
Saunders SC	Colombo	Kelaniya Football Complex	1,000
SL Navy SC	Welisara	Navy Ground	1,000
Solid SC	Anuradhapura	Prison Ground	2,000
Sri Lanka Army SC	Homagama	Homagama Ground	5,000
Sri Lanka Police SC	Colombo	Police Ground	1,000
Super Sun SC	Dharga Town	Zahira College Ground	1,000
Thihariya Youth SC	Gampaha	Sugathadasa Stadium	28,000
Up Country Lions SC	Nawalapitiya	Jayathilake Stadium	5,000

League table

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Army S.C.	8	7	1	0	24	4	+20	22	Championship Round
2	Solid S.C.	8	4	3	1	17	6	+11	15
3	Colombo F.C.	8	5	0	3	17	9	+8	15
4	Blue Star	8	4	1	3	11	13	−2	13
5	Negombo Youth	8	4	0	4	26	13	+13	12
6	Crystal Palace SC	8	3	1	4	17	19	−2	10
7	Country Lions	8	2	3	3	8	16	−8	9
8	Matara City	8	2	1	5	8	17	−9	7	Division I
9	Civil Security Force	8	0	0	8	2	33	−31	0

Source: The Papare

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Renown S.C.	8	7	0	1	26	7	+19	21	Championship Round
2	New Young	8	5	1	2	15	11	+4	16
3	Navy S.C.	8	4	2	2	12	10	+2	14
4	Air Force	8	4	1	3	12	7	+5	13
5	Super Sun	8	4	0	4	12	11	+1	12
6	Saunders SC	8	3	1	4	12	12	0	10
7	Police S.C.	8	2	2	4	10	17	−7	8
8	Java Lane	8	1	3	4	10	13	−3	6	Division I
9	Thihariya Youth	8	0	2	6	4	25	−21	2

Source: The Papare

Result table

Group A

Home \ Away	ARM	SOL	CFC	NEG	BST	LSC	CRY	MAN	CSS
Army				2–1	6–0		3–2		6–0
Solid	0–0		4–2				3–0		6–0
Colombo	0–2			4–0		1–0	3–2
Negombo		0–2			2–3	8–0		4–2
Blue Star		2–0	1–0					0–1	2–0
Country Lions	0–2	1–1			2–2		2–2
Crystal Palace				0–4	2–1			4–1	5–2
Matara City	1–3	1–1	0–4			0–1
Civil Security			0–3	0–7		0–2		0–2

Updated to match(es) played on 8 September 2016. Source: Papare
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Home \ Away	RSC	AIR	YSC	NSC	SAU	SSC	JAV	POL	THI
Renown		1–0				3–1	1–0	6–2
Air Force			2–1		2–0	0–1			3–0
New Young	0–3			3–1	2–1				2–0
Navy	2–1	1–4					1–1		1–0
Saunders	1–2			1–1		3–2	4–2
Super Sun			2–3	0–3				0–0	3–0
Java Lane		2–0	1–1			1–2		2–3
Police		1–1	1–3	0–2	0–1
Thihariya	1–9				0–4		1–1	2–2

Updated to match(es) played on 8 September 2016. Source: Papare
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Championship Round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colombo	7	5	1	1	13	5	+8	16	2018 AFC Cup
2	Renown	7	5	0	2	14	7	+7	15
3	Blue Star	7	4	2	1	11	9	+2	14
4	Army	7	4	1	2	25	9	+16	13
5	New Young	7	2	2	3	7	10	−3	8
6	Air Force	7	1	2	4	6	8	−2	5
7	Navy	7	1	1	5	8	19	−11	4
8	Solid	7	1	1	5	6	20	−14	4

Source: Papare

Result table

Home \ Away	RSC	AIR	YSC	NSC	ARM	SOL	CFC	BST
Renown		2–0	2–1		3–0		1–3	0–2
Air Force					2–2	3–0	1–2
New Young		1–0		4–1		1–1	0–0	0–1
Navy	1–2	1–0				0–5
Army			5–0	3–2				7–3
Solid	0–4				0–7			0–2
Colombo				3–1	2–1	3–0
Blue Star		0–0		2–2			1–0

Source: Papare
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Awards

The winners of the competition were given a cash award of Rs. 700000.^[1]

Award	Player	Club
Most Valuable Player	Afis Oleymi	Colombo
Top goal scorer	Job Michael and M.N.M. Izzadeen	Renown SC & Army
Best Goalkeeper	M.N.M. Imran	Colombo FC

Controversies

• This edition of the league was highly criticized by the clubs due to the poor management of the tournament. This has occurred in the Super 8 Stage when the Round has to postponed in number of occasions. Many clubs have make their dissatisfaction in this incident.^[2]
• The fixtures of Championship Round was again postponed to mid of January due to the monsoon rain.^[3]