Commentary: It’s time to ask ourselves exactly how important football is to Singapore
A genuine momentum has been generated for local football that was previously gasping for air, and more can be done, says former sports commentator Edwin Yeo.
Singapore fans at the Rajamangala Stadium supporting the Lions against Thailand in their ASEAN Championship match on Aug 18, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Matthew Mohan)
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SINGAPORE: Belief has been in short supply in local football for some time. But invigorated by a historic Asian Cup qualification last year, there was some excitement among supporters as the Lions entered the ASEAN Championship.
And head coach Gavin Lee and his team did not disappoint.
While the Lions exited the tournament in the semi-final stage, matching the results in the previous edition, the national team had notched a rare 2-1 win at Thailand’s home ground on Tuesday (Aug 18). This was not only Singapore’s first victory against Thailand since 2012, triumphing over the War Elephants on Thai soil was a feat Singapore last achieved in 2009.
And there’s more – Singapore drew with defending champions Vietnam and Indonesia in the group stage, something few fans expected. To be sure, neither Indonesia nor Thailand had their best players at the tournament, but the football that the Lions played under Lee was a clear step up from even their Asian Cup performances last year.
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The Lions fought with the same intensity and physicality brought by former head coach Tsutomu Ogura, but Lee had added a level of sophistication to their passing game, which resulted in the team dominating possession and matched the Thais in chance creations over the two legs.
BIGGER TESTS AHEAD
While Lee and his team have delivered so far on the field, one would argue that a bigger test is soon coming in the shape of the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup next month, in which regional teams will get to field their best players since the tournament is held within the FIFA window.
Singapore is set to face Indonesia and Malaysia in Group A. Indonesia will surely send a team resembling the one that became the only Southeast Asian side to advance to the group stages of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Soon after that in January next year, the Lions will head to the AFC Asian Cup group games where they face even tougher opponents in the form of Australia, Iraq and Tajikistan.
Lee has undoubtedly worked wonders with more or less the same players as two years ago when he was assistant coach to Ogura. While there is little doubt that he will continue to improve the team leading up to the Asian Cup, one has to question whether we really have the players and relevant experience to compete at that level.
We might eventually be able to raise our competitiveness if we get our youth development right, but that won’t come fast enough for the Asian Cup next year.
That means we’re left with the one word no one working in Singapore football dares to talk openly about – naturalisation.
Compared to some of our neighbours, Singapore has only two naturalised players – South Korea-born midfielder Song Ui-young and Japan-born playmaker Kyoga Nakamura – and they have done well for the team. But that’s not enough.
One name that has emerged is Perry Ng who received his Singapore permanent resident status in March 2025 and has since applied for citizenship via the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme.
The Liverpool-born 30-year-old has said he is eager to don the national colours of his Singapore-born grandfather. And if he does, Ng, who plays for Cardiff City, will be the only Singaporean to be playing in one of Europe’s elite leagues – the EFL Championship. Tactically, he also fills a problematic position in our national team – right back. In the ASEAN Championship, this was mostly filled by the Lion City Sailors’ Lionel Tan, whose natural position is centre back.
Certainly, naturalisation must complement longer-term development of younger local talent. But there is little doubt that if we are to be competitive at the upcoming Asian Cup, we need players of Ng’s calibre and experience.
A HOME STADIUM FOR THE LIONS?
The Lions also need one other thing.
In this edition, all of the Lions’ home games were held at the nearly 6,000-seater Jalan Besar Stadium. The 55,000-seater National Stadium was unavailable due to the National Day Parade. When tickets for the eagerly anticipated semi-final against Thailand were snapped up almost immediately after going on sale, fans were understandably disappointed.
This isn’t the fault of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) – they don’t own any grounds and unfortunately, the National Stadium has multiple priorities. It would have also been difficult to truly know if we would have seen 50,000 fans for every home game, like what it used to be during the Malaysia Cup glory days.
Perhaps, however, the time has come to rethink exactly how important football is to this nation.
Yes, Singapore is land scarce, and I’m not advocating a stadium that is dedicated only to football – but can we prioritise the National Stadium during tournaments and FIFA windows?
After all, the OCBC Aquatic Centre is almost exclusively for water sports, and the competitive pool is prioritised for national team activities.
Half of the FAS’ job is to bring fans back to the stadiums, but their hands are somewhat tied when they not only have to compete against Asia’s best teams on the pitch, but also against concerts, national day parades and other sporting events when tournaments are held.
It has been two semi-finals now that we had to play our home leg at the smaller Jalan Besar Stadium – the other being Singapore’s semi-final against Vietnam in 2024’s ASEAN Championship.
This has, unfortunately, denied the relatively new FAS team the chance to show that they have managed to stoke the imagination of a fanbase which had written off our national team for close to a decade.
In addition, after a string of foreign coaches, the Singapore national team finally has a head coach that many football fans are proud to call one of our own. Journalists who covered the national team at the ASEAN Championship told me repeatedly about the obvious team spirit, with Lee credited for building up a sense of camaraderie among the players.
The Lions deserve a home ground to call their own, if we really are to see the return of the Kallang Roar.
Belief is built on evidence, Lee said on Tuesday during a post-match press conference, while thanking supporters for backing the Lions through thick and thin.
“I think we have turned a few doubters into believers … what’s so heartening is you go back to the first leg and we were down 3-0, and Satu Nada (one heartbeat) was being sung,” he told reporters. “As players, it is just amazing because that is the fuel.”
While the next two tournaments might show how far the national football team has yet to go, a genuine momentum has been generated for a sport that was previously gasping for air. So once again, let’s answer these questions as Satu Singapura (one Singapore): How important is football? Are we ready to believe in the Lions?
Edwin Yeo, a former football commentator, leads the Singapore office of SPRG, a regional integrated communications agency.
Source: CNA/sk
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