Singapore national football team

Singapore

Nickname(s)	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
FIFA code	SGP
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	162 1 (24 October 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
Singapore 0–9 Burma  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 6 November 1969)[6]
Asian Cup
Appearances	1 (first in 1984)
Best result	Group stage (1984)
ASEAN Championship
Appearances	14 (first in 1996)
Best result	Champions (1998, 2004, 2007, 2012)

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 after Singapore’s national animal]. Being of prominent symbolic nature to Singapore.^[8]

Singapore has one of the oldest national teams in Asia, with the FAS being the oldest football association in the continent itself.^[9]

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. Singapore also notably managed to get good results against UEFA continent against Kazakhstan on 24 December 2006 which resulted in a 0–0 draw and Azerbaijan which ended in a 2–2 draw on 24 February 2012.

However, Singapore has yet to qualify to the AFC Asian Cup by their own merit. They only participated once in the 1984 AFC Asian Cup, in which they were the host.