Sri Lanka recorded a dominant 4-1 win over Bhutan in an international friendly football match held in Bangkok on Sunday, opening their Thailand tour with a comprehensive attacking performance, NewsFirst reported.
Wade Dekker opened the scoring in the 16th minute to set the tone for the match. Sri Lanka doubled the lead in the 63rd minute when Bharath Suresh found the net, and Waseem Razeek added a third in the 78th minute to put the result effectively beyond Bhutan’s reach.
Bhutan pulled one back through Rinzin Dorji in the 80th minute to narrow the gap briefly, before Rahul Suresh sealed the win in stoppage time, scoring in the 90+2 minute to complete the 4-1 result.
NewsFirst said the match was broadcast live to Sri Lankan audiences on Sirasa TV and TV1, the Maharaja Media Network channels that on Monday also confirmed they had secured the FIFA World Cup 2026 broadcasting rights for Sri Lanka. The friendly is part of a Bangkok tour designed to give the national team competitive minutes outside the regional qualifying cycle.
The result extends a recent burst of football coverage on Sri Lankan media schedules, after Adelaide-born striker Nishan Velupillay was profiled for his Sri Lankan roots ahead of Australia’s World Cup campaign, and the Football Federation of Sri Lanka used its Annual Congress to announce permanent administrative offices for all 61 member leagues under its “Next Chapter” reform programme.
Update — June 8 (FIFA ranking and coach reaction): Head coach Abdulla Almutairi told Newswire after the match that Sri Lanka’s national team has risen from 205th to 187th in the FIFA world rankings over the past two years — evidence, he said, of progress under his programme even as he urged supporters to remain patient. Almutairi cited stronger performances against higher-ranked opponents, increased professionalism in preparation and team structure and “growing belief within the squad” as the main drivers of the improvement. “Nothing extraordinary has happened yet, and there is still a long journey ahead. The foundations have been built, but the work is far from finished,” he said, adding that fans should continue backing the side with “patience, unity and belief.” The 18-place jump represents the team’s most concrete ranking improvement in recent years and follows the friendly in Bangkok.
