The Singapore national football team, nicknamed The Lions, 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 has one of the oldest national teams in Asia, with the FAS being the oldest football association in the continent itself.
Despite the country having a small population pool, it has historically punched above its weight by successively producing squads that have fiercely competed with other squads from its larger and much more populated neighbours. This can be seen in its most significant successes, which have come in the regional AFF Championship, where Singapore has 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 obtain its 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 AFC 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. In 2025, Singapore secured qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup by finishing first in their third round group. The team went unbeaten throughout the stage and won all of their away matches.
History
Early history (1892–1994)
In 1892, the Singapore Amateur Football Association applied to become a registered society. The HMS Malaya Cup (which was later known as the Malaysia Cup) was launched in 1921 by officers of a British battleship in Malaya, and Singapore was one of the six teams that took part in the inaugural year, and won the event. While the representative side in the Malaysia Cup and the Malaysian League was not the national team per se – this team included some foreign players as it is more of a club side – many Singapore football fans viewed the Singapore Lions club side as being almost synonymous to the national team as well. They either won or were runners up in the event every year until 1941, after which it was suspended because of World War II.
Overall, Singapore won 24 Malaysia Cup titles and two Malaysian League titles. After winning the Malaysia Cup and league double in 1994, the Football Association of Singapore withdrew from the Malaysian competitions following a dispute with the Football Association of Malaysia over gate receipts. Singapore subsequently launched its own professional league, the S.League, in 1996, and also began to put much more focus on the performance of its national team in international competitions.
At that time, Singapore hosted their first and so far, its only international competition, the 1984 AFC Asian Cup. The team was eliminated from the group stage with four points, a 2–0 win over India and a 1–1 draw to giant Iran. In the FIFA World Rankings, Singapore's highest standing was in the first release of the figures, in August 1993, at 73rd.
First regional title (1995–2003) Singapore won the bronze medal in the 1995 Southeast Asian Games, after losing 0–1 in the semi-finals to the hosts and eventual gold medalists, Thailand. Singapore hosted the inaugural AFF Championship (then known as Tiger Cup) in 1996 but were eliminated in the group stages.
The national team again reached the semi-finals of the Southeast Asian Games in 1997, losing to Indonesia, and lost to Vietnam 0–1 in the third-place match.
However, in the 1998 edition of the AFF Championship, Singapore's team led by coach Barry Whitbread won the group stage with victories over Malaysia and the Philippines. In the semi-finals, they beat Indonesia and subsequently edged out hosts Vietnam 1–0 in the final. This was the country's first ever international title.
Jan B. Poulsen, who was part of Denmark's backroom staff at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was appointed the Technical Director of the Football Association of Singapore in 1999. Due to poor results by Singapore in the 2000 AFF Championship, coach Vincent Subramaniam was sacked and Poulsen took over as coach in December 2000. Singapore hosted the 2002 AFF Championship, but lost 0–4 to arch-rivals Malaysia in their first game. Before the game, local newspaper The New Paper was encouraging fans to turn up in numbers. After the game, the Lions attributed their heavy defeat to the unexpected large crowd. Singapore went on to win 2–1 over Laos, but a 1–1 draw in the final group game against Thailand was not enough for them to reach the knock-out stages. Poulsen was sacked after the tournament.
AFF Championship triumph (2004–2012)
Radojko Avramović took over as coach of the flailing and deflated Singapore national football team in July 2003. Singapore started the 2004 AFF Championship as underdogs but a 1–1 draw in their first game against hosts Vietnam, another draw against Indonesia, and wins against Cambodia and Laos saw them qualify for the semi-finals.
Singapore were drawn against Myanmar in the two-legged semi-finals. Singapore took a 4–3 away lead back home for the second leg. In the ill-tempered second leg, three Myanmar players were sent off and a reserve Myanmar goalkeeper even threw a water bottle at defender S. Subramani. Singapore went on to win 4–2 after extra time for an 8–5 aggregate victory.
Singapore then won the first leg of the two-legged final against Indonesia 3–1 in Jakarta, before winning 2–1 (5–2 on aggregate) in the second leg in front of a strong 55,000 home crowd at the former National Stadium.
In 2006, Avramović then led Singapore into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers with a 2–0 victory at home over Iraq, but Singapore failed to build on this victory and then lost away to Palestine. The Singapore team then took on China away in Tianjin and lost to an injury time penalty. China travelled to Singapore for the second meeting and the Singapore defence held out for a 0–0 draw. A subsequent 2–4 loss to Iraq dashed Singapore's hopes of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup. The AFC Asian Cup qualifying campaign ended with a default 3–0 victory over Palestine, who were unable to fulfil the fixture.
Singapore hosted the group stages of the 2007 AFF Championship. After a 0–0 draw with Vietnam, Singapore then thrashed Laos 11–0 to record their largest-ever win. In the final group match, Singapore knocked Indonesia out of the tournament in a 2–2 draw. Singapore met Malaysia in the semi-final. The first leg saw a 1–1 draw in Shah Alam, while in the second leg at Singapore's National Stadium, following another 1–1 draw, Singapore beat Malaysia in a penalty shoot-out 5–4, goalkeeper Lionel Lewis saving the final Malaysian spot kick from Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri. In the final against Thailand, Singapore won a controversial first leg at home 2–1, then secured a 1–1 draw in Bangkok thanks to a late strike from Khairul Amri to retain the AFF Championship trophy. In the 2008 AFF Championship co-hosted by Indonesia and Thailand, Singapore was drawn in Group A to against Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia. Singapore progressed from the group as winners. However, they lost out to eventual winners Vietnam 0–1 on aggregate.Singapore met Palestine in the first round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian qualification. Singapore won the first leg 4–0 away in Doha, and the Palestinians again failed to fulfil the away fixture, so FIFA awarded Singapore a 3–0 win. Singapore was drawn with Tajikistan in the second round: Singapore won the home match 2–0 and drew the return leg 1–1 on 18 November to progress to the third round of the Asian Qualifying Tournament for the first time, where they were drawn against Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Uzbekistan. Singapore's group stage campaign began with a loss to Saudi Arabia, but the Lions then beat Lebanon 2–0 at home. Successive losses to Uzbekistan, 3–7 and 0–1, left Singapore with little chance of getting into the next round. Singapore were finally eliminated when they lost 0–2 to the Saudis at home. FIFA later awarded Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan both a 3–0 win, where they won 2–0 and 1–0 respectively, due to Singapore fielding Qiu Li, who is not eligible to represent Singapore.Qiu ineligible for Singapore – FIFA , the-AFC.com, 4 December 2008. Singapore finished third in the group with six points from six games after defeating Lebanon 2–1 in Beirut in their final game. With the elimination, Goal 2010For the 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification, Singapore was drawn in Group E, together with Iran, Thailand and Jordan. Singapore were beaten 0–6 by Iran in the first match, and then defeated Jordan 2–1.
In November 2009, Singapore hosted Thailand at the National Stadium and lost 3–1, but won the return fixture 1–0 a few days later, earning Singapore their first victory on Thai soil in 48 years. Singapore next hosted Iran, losing 1–3, and the 1–2 defeat against Jordan which followed ended their hopes of AFC Asian Cup football in 2011. The players reported some teammates were smoking during half-time in the match against Jordan. In 2010, Singapore drew with the Philippines 1–1, defeated Myanmar 2–1, then duly lost to Vietnam 0–1 in the knockout stage decider. As a result, Singapore was knocked out of the group stage in Hanoi. The Lions were criticised for their dismal performances in the AFF Championship, which they won in 1998, 2004, and 2007. In January 2011, the FAS decided to disband and revamp the national team. Six months later, The Lions were back in action after the dismal performances in 2010.
In May 2011, national team coach Avramović announced the new 33-strong national provisional squad for the upcoming international friendlies and 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. The Lions were scheduled to play international friendlies against Maldives on 7 June 2011 and Laos on 18 July 2011. Few days after releasing the provisional 33-man squad, national team training started in preparation of the match against Maldives. Avramović led the new-look Lions in a game where Singapore won Maldives 4–0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Singapore in a friendly match. (Note. The match was not an 'A' international because unlimited substitutions were allowed.) After the 4–0 win against Maldives, less than a week later before the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, a final friendly was played against Chinese Taipei. Singapore won the match 3–2 with goals from Aleksandar Đurić, Shi Jiayi and Fazrul Nawaz. In preparation for the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, the Lions played a friendly non-'A' match against Thailand before their opening qualifier against China. The friendly finished 0–0.