Singapore national football team
Team representing Singapore in the senior men's international football / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Singapore national football team (Malay: Pasukan bola sepak kebangsaan Singapura, Chinese: 新加坡国家足球队, Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய கால்பந்து அணி) represents Singapore in the senior men's international football. It is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body of football in Singapore, which is affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the regional ASEAN Football Federation (AFF). The team's colours are red and white. Singapore are colloquially known as "The Lions".[6]
Nickname(s) | The Lions | ||
---|---|---|---|
Association | Football Association of Singapore (FAS) | ||
Confederation | AFC (Asia) | ||
Sub-confederation | AFF (Southeast Asia) | ||
Head coach | Tsutomu Ogura[1] | ||
Captain | Hariss Harun | ||
Most caps | Daniel Bennett (146)[2] | ||
Top scorer | Fandi Ahmad (55)[3] | ||
Home stadium | National Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium | ||
FIFA code | SGP | ||
| |||
FIFA ranking | |||
Current | 155 1 (4 April 2024)[4] | ||
Highest | 73 (August 1993) | ||
Lowest | 173 (October 2017) | ||
First international | |||
Singapore 1–0 Republic of China (Singapore; 22 May 1948)[5] | |||
Biggest win | |||
Singapore 11–0 Laos (Kallang, Singapore; 15 January 2007) | |||
Biggest defeat | |||
Burma 9–0 Singapore (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 9 November 1969) | |||
Asian Cup | |||
Appearances | 1 (first in 1984) | ||
Best result | Group stage (1984) | ||
AFF Championship | |||
Appearances | 14 (first in 1996) | ||
Best result | Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012) |
Singapore has one of the oldest national teams in Asia, with the FAS being the oldest football association in the continent itself.[7] Despite the country having a relatively small population pool, it has generally punched above its weight by successively producing squads that has fiercely competed with its larger and much more populated neighbours.
This can be seen in its most significant successes, which have come in the regional AFF Championship, whereby Singapore had won four times in 1998, 2004, 2007, and 2012. Singapore was the first team to achieve this feat and the only team to win in all the finals that they had played. In 1998, Singapore defeated Vietnam in the final to capture the country's first major international football title. In the 2004–05 competition, Singapore defeated Indonesia in a two-leg final 5–2 on aggregate. Singapore retained the trophy in 2007, beating Thailand 3–2 on aggregate in the final. In 2012, Singapore won the trophy a record 4th time, again defeating three-time champions Thailand 3–2 on aggregate in the final.
Singapore has also achieved notable results beyond its sub-confederation. In the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Singapore became the only team to beat Iraq where Iraq was en route to their Asian Cup-winning campaign. Singapore also drew with China 0–0, 1–1, and 2–2 at home in 2006, 2009 and 2024 respectively. In March 2008, Australia also failed to beat Singapore when the game ended in a goalless draw. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Japan was held to a draw at home at the Saitama Stadium by Singapore, being the only game where they had dropped points in the group.