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, captain of the Singapore national football team, hoists the Tiger Cup in 2004 .]] The Singapore national football team is the national Football (soccer) team of Singapore . The team comes under the organisation of the Football Association Of Singapore (FAS). To date, the most significant successes of the team have come in the regional ASEAN Football Championship (formerly known as the 'Tiger Cup'), which Singapore has won three times in 1998 , 2005 and 2007 . In 1998, Singapore beat Vietnam 1-0 in the final to capture the country's first major international football title. In the 2004 -5 competition, Singapore defeated Indonesia in a two-leg final 5-2 on aggregate. Singapore successfully retained the trophy in 2007, beating Thailand 3-2 on aggregate in the final. Although Singapore is widely regarded as a minnow in the international footballing arena, the national team has ground out quite a few upset results and have made it hard for many away teams in recent years. In the 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers, for example, Singapore beat Iraq 2-0 and also drew with China 0-0 at home in 2006 . China also narrowly escaped with a 1-0 victory in Tianjin thanks to a last minute penalty. Japan , Uruguay , Denmark and Saudi Arabia have also come away with narrow 2-1 wins in recent times. In the FIFA World Rankings , Singapore is currently the number 4 ranked Southeast Asia n team behind Thailand , Vietnam and Indonesia , and the number 21 in Asia (as of July 2007). Singapore was tagged as the Asian Football Confederation 's 'Mover of the Year' in 2005. In January 2007, Singapore achieved a national record 11-0 win against Laos in an ASEAN Football Championship match against. Mohd Noh Alam Shah scored 7 goals in the match. Singapore's main rival on the international stage is their geographical neighbour, Malaysia , and past matches between these two teams have produced much drama. All of the players in the Singapore national football team currently play for club teams in Singapore's top professional league, the S.League . In recent years, Singapore has included several naturalised citizens in its team. Notable foreign-born citizens who play for Singapore include Egmar Goncalves from Brazil ; Mirko Grabovac from Croatia ; Daniel Bennett and John Wilkinson from England ; Shi Jiayi from China ; Mustafic Fahrudin from Serbia and Precious Emuejeraye , Agu Casmir and Itimi Dickson from Nigeria . LAST AND NEXT GAMES
- 0-3 , Friendly, 30 June 2007 , Singapore - 1-2 , Friendly, 27 June 2007 Singapore (Ashrin Shariff 90min) - 2-1 , Friendly, 24 June Singapore (Ridhuan Muhammad 40min, Indra Sahdan 74min) - 1-1 , ASEAN Football Championship Final 2nd Leg, 4 February 2007 Bangkok (Khairul Amri 81min) - 2-1 , ASEAN Football Championship Final 1st Leg, 27 June 2007 Singapore (Noh Alam Shah 17min, Mustafic Fahrudin 90min)
- vs Friendly September 19 , 2007 , Singapore - vs Friendly October 2 , 2007 , Manama , Bahrain - vs World Cup 2010 Qualifying October 8 , 2007 , Doha , Qatar - vs World Cup 2010 Qualifying October 28 , 2007 , Singapore HISTORY 1921 - 1994 Between 1921 and 1994 , the Football Association of Singapore entered a representative side in the Malaysia Cup and the Malaysian League . While this was not the national team ''per se'' – and in 1980s and 1990s this team included some foreign players as permitted by Malaysian League rules – many Singapore football fans viewed the Malaysia Cup side as being the national team, and the team's exploits in the Malaysian competitions generally drew much more attention than Singapore's participation in other international tournaments. Up to 1994, Singapore won 24 Malaysia Cup titles and 2 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, and have not been involved since. Singapore subsequently launched its own professional league, the S.League, in 1996 , and also began to put much more focus on the performance of it's national team in international competitions. 1995 - 1999 With the local footabll scene still suffering from Malaysia Cup hangover, Singapore won the bronze medal in the 1995 Southeast Asian Games , after crashing out in the semi-finals 1-0 to the hosts and eventual gold medallists, Thailand. The national team then produced some uninspiring results as they crashed out in the group stages of the 1996 Tiger Cup , which Singapore hosted. The national team continued their jinx of missing out on the gold medal in the Southeast Asian Games in 1997 , losing in the semi-finals again to Indonesia . This time they also missed out on the bronze medal, when they lost out to Vietnam 1-0 in the third-placing match. However in the 1998 edition of the Tiger Cup , against all odds, Singapore's team led by coach Barry Whitbread stormed through the group stages with victories over Malaysia and the Philippines . In the sem-finals, they beat Indonesia and subsequently edged out hosts Vietnam 1-0 in the final. This was the country's first ever international title. 2000 - 2002 Jan B. Poulsen who was part of the Danish backroom staff in the 1998 World Cup , was appointed the Technical Director of the Football Association Of Singapore in 1999 . However, due to poor results by Singapore in the 2000 Tiger Cup , coach Vincent Subramaniam was sacked and Poulsen took over as coach in 2001 . 2 points out of a possible 18 in the World Cup 2002 qualifiers meant that Poulsen had to deliver in the 2002 Tiger Cup, which was to be held at home, in order to keep his job. On 18 December 2002, Singapore faced arch-rivals Malaysia in their first game of the Tiger Cup. 40,000 home supporters watched in horror as Singapore crashed 4-0 to their northern neighbours. To this day, the loss remains a major stain on Singapore's international results. Singapore went on to win 2-1 over Laos , but a 1-1 draw in the final group game against Thailand wasn't enough to book a place in the knock-out stages. Poulsen was sacked following the premature exit of the team from the tournament. 2003 - present Radojko Avramovic took over as coach of the flailing and deflated Singapore national football team in 2003 . A string of wins in friendlies and a narrow 2-1 loss at home against Japan were signs of the brighter future for Singapore under Avramovic. Singapore started the 2004 Tiger Cup as underdogs. Many brushed off the team's chances of even making it to the knockout stages. However, a hard-fought 1-1 draw in their first game against hosts Vietnam showed that Singapore meant business. Another draw against Indonesia meant that Singapore needed only to win against minnows Cambodia and Laos to make it to the semi-finals. And they did just that with two thumping wins. Singapore were drawn with another underdog, 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 Singapore went on to win 4-2 (8-5 on aggregrate). Singapore then won the two-legged final against Indonesia 3-1 in the first leg in Jakarta , before winning 2-1 (5-2 on aggregrate) for the second leg in front of a 55,000-strong delirious home crowd. It was Singapore's second Tiger Cup title and there was more to come. Avramovic then led Singapore into the 2007 Asian Cup qualifiers with a stunning 2-0 victory at home over much-fancied Iraq , courtesy of goals from strikers Khairul Amri and Mohd Noh Alam Shah . However, Singapore failed to build on to this victory and then lost away to the much weaker team from Palestine . The Singapore then took on China away in Tianjin and they held out till the 93rd minute, when captain Aide Iskandar conceded a penalty and Shao Jiayi of China dully converted the kick. China came to Singapore for the second meeting and the Singapore defence held out for a 0-0 draw. A subsequent 4-2 loss to Iraq dashed Singapore's hopes of qualifying for the Asian Cup. The Asian Cup qualifying campaign ended with a default 3-0 victory over Palestine as the war-torn country had troubles travelling to Singapore for the match. For the 2007 ASEAN Football Championship (previously known as the Tiger Cup), Singapore was drawn into a group similar to the one they had in the 2004 competition. The pressure was on for Singapore to deliver at home and they started their defence of the title with an uninspiring 0-0 draw with Vietnam. Singapore then trashed minnows Laos 11-0 to record their largest-ever win, gaining a precious 3 points and an unassailable goal difference. In the final group match, Singapore knocked Indonesia out of the tournament in a tight, fiercely fought 2-2 draw. Singapore met their northern rivals Malaysia in the semi-final. In the first leg, Singapore stole a 1-1 draw away in Shah Alam . In the second leg at Singapore's National Stadium , following another draw, Singapore beat Malaysia in a penalty shoot-out 5-4 following heroics from goalkeeper Lionel Lewis saving the final Malaysian spot kick. In the final against Thailand, Singapore won a controversial first leg at home 2-1, and the secured a 1-1 draw in Bangkok thanks to a late strike from Khairul Amri to retain the ASEAN Football Championship trophy. On the 24th of June 2007, only 16 years 7 months and 5 days old, Hariss Harun became the youngest ever player to don the national jersey as he came on in the second half in a friendly against North Korea. Singapore will meet Palestine in first round of the FIFA World Cup 2010 Asian Qualifying. The two-legs will be played on the 8th and the 28th of October 2007. WORLD CUP RECORD ASIAN CUP RECORD
ASEAN FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD This competition was formerly known as the Tiger Cup
SINGAPORE SQUAD Latest squad For the friendly against UAE ;Goalkeepers ;Defenders ;Midfielders ;Strikers Previous squads Backroom staff PLAYER HISTORY Famous Players 1970s 1980s and 1990s
2000s
Singapore captains Singapore Head-Coaches SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS |
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