Young Lions and Lionesses will not be at 2026 Asian Games, says FAS
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
The Singapore men's Under-22s will be looking for an improved 2026, after they lost both their group-stage matches at the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand in December.
ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
- Singapore's men's U-22 and women's football teams will miss the 2026 Asian Games due to new, stricter qualification criteria validated by AFC and OCA.
- Commentator Khidhir Khamis viewed non-participation as a "blessing in disguise", arguing it prevents magnifying ongoing football issues and provides time to "clean up our mess".
- FAS announced a shift to boost youth national team exposure through a packed 2026 international calendar, including friendlies and championships across age groups.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – The Singapore Under-22 men’s football team and women’s national team will not participate in the Sept 19-Oct 4 Asian Games in Japan, the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has confirmed.
In a media statement on Feb 9 to announce the 2026 schedules of its age-group sides, the FAS said the Republic will not be represented at the Asiad “following the implementation of a qualification criteria by Games organisers that has been validated by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA)”.
It added that the 16 men’s teams that competed in the U-23 Asian Cup 2026 in Saudi Arabia in January have automatically qualified for the Asiad, while the women’s tournament will comprise the 12 teams in the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia in March.
During the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers in September 2025, the Young Lions finished bottom of their group after losing all three matches to Vietnam, Bangladesh and Yemen.
This will be the third consecutive time that they have missed the continental Games.
The FAS decided not to send them to the last Asiad in Hangzhou, China, in 2023, after a review of their SEA Games performance that year and due to scheduling conflicts.
They also did not feature in the 2018 edition in Indonesia after failing to meet the qualifying benchmark. Their last outing was at the 2014 edition in South Korea, where they finished third in their group and did not advance to the knockout round.
Meanwhile, the Lionesses made their Asiad debut in 2023, when they lost both games to North Korea 7-0 and 10-0.
The Singapore women's national team will not be participating at the 2026 Asian Games. At the previous edition in 2023, the Lionesses (in blue) lost to North Korea twice with by scorelines of 7-0 and 10-0.
PHOTO: SPORTS SINGAPORE/JEREMY LEE
Previously, football teams at the Asian Games were generally entered by their respective national Olympic committees without any set qualification criteria by AFC.
Before withdrawals from some countries, there were 23 men’s sides and 18 women’s teams who were entered for the 2023 Asian Games, which saw some lopsided scorelines, especially in the group stage.
Football commentator and former Singapore Premier League (SPL) coach Khidhir Khamis felt that not meeting the criteria is a blessing in disguise for the FAS.
At the 2025 SEA Games in Thailand, the Young Lions lost both their matches to Thailand and Timor-Leste and finished bottom of their three-team group, failing to qualify for the semi-finals for a sixth consecutive time.
In the SPL, where the developmental side are bolstered by older players and foreigners, they are bottom of the table without a win in nine matches this season.
Khidhir said: “It is good that we are not involved. I think we still have a lot to do in terms of getting things to be proper. Going to Asian Games will just magnify the issues that we have, and in the media, it won’t look good. And also for the boys, for the coaches, I don’t think it will be good as well.
“So it’s better for us to really consolidate, clean up our mess, come up with a proper plan and make sure that everything is more settled and stable, before we go for any other Asian Games in the future.”
The FAS also said in the Feb 9 statement that it is making “a concerted shift to provide greater exposure across youth national teams, with a packed calendar of international activities planned from the Under-22s through to the Under-16s in 2026”.
The U-22 men’s team will face the United Arab Emirates’ U-23s in two closed-door friendly matches in Singapore on March 25 and 28, while overseas training camps and tournaments have also been lined up for the other age-group sides for both genders.
The U-19 men’s team, who will compete in the Asean U-19 Championship in June and U-20 Asian Cup qualifiers in September, will also have two closed-door friendlies against the Jordan U-19 national team on Feb 13 and 16 in Singapore.
The U-16 boys will commence preparations for the Asean U-17 Championship in April and the U-17 Asian Cup qualifiers in November. As part of their preparation, the U-16 boys will head to UAE for a training camp from Feb 12 to 18, said the FAS.
The U-16 girls will take part in the Emerging Matildas Championship in the February and March window, followed by the Lion City Cup in the second half of June.
In August, they will travel to Indonesia for the Independence Day Cup, before competing in the U-17 Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers in October.
