Association football, known more popularly as football, is considered the national sport of Singapore. Approximately 49% of the people in Singapore are interested in football. Association football is the most popular sport in Singapore.
The country is home to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the oldest football association in Asia with its roots coming from The Football Association. Despite the country having a relatively small population pool, it has produced squads that has fiercely competed with more populated countries in both club and international football.
The sport reached one of its highest peaks during the 1980s and 1990s with the Singapore Lions' participation in the Malaysia Cup, whereby they dominated the competition. The Singapore Lions left the Malaysia Cup in 1994, before rejoining the competition in 2012 as the LionsXII, winning a league title in 2013 and an FA Cup in 2015 in the process.
The first football match in Singapore were between two teams of British engineers in 1889. The Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA), under its current name Football Association of Singapore, was formed in 1892 by a group of British in colonial Singapore.
In 2022, FAS announced that plans to implement video assistant referee (VAR) technology were started since late 2021 and VAR technology will be in use in the near future. In 2023, FAS announced that VAR technology will be used by the SPL for the 2023 Singapore Premier League season.
Goal 2010 was an objective set by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1998, for the national team to reach the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, the goal was not met.
Joining the Malaysia Cup in 1921, known as the Malaya Cup at that time, Singapore were the champions of the inaugural competition. They would further succeed in getting 24 titles for themselves during their time in the competition from 1921 to 1994, a span of 74 years. Singapore submitted a representative team, which operated like a football club more than a national football team. It was called the Singapore FA. The competition helped bring the likes of Fandi Ahmad and Dollah Kassim, with the former being the only Singaporean to have played for European clubs â FC Groningen and OFI.
The Football Association of Singapore organises the men's, women's and youth national teams. The men's senior team is the second most successful team in the AFF Championship with 4 titles (1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012). The youth team claimed bronze in the football event of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, and was runner-up and second runner-up for the 23rd Lion City Cup.
The former National Stadium was the home of the Singapore national team. The team moved to Jalan Besar Stadium after the former ground was demolished in 2011 for the multi-purpose sports complex Singapore Sports Hub. After its completion in 2014, the team concurrently uses both the new National Stadium and Jalan Besar Stadium as their home grounds.
The football club from Singapore with the highest average home attendance per league season:
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