Singapore national under-23 football team

Singapore national under-23 football team
Medal record
U-23 Southeast Asian Championship
Merdeka Tournament

Singapore U-23
Nickname(s)	Young Lions
Association	Football Association of Singapore (FAS)
Confederation	AFC (Asia)
Sub-confederation	AFF (Southeast Asia)
Head coach	Tsutomu Ogura
Captain	Harhys Stewart
Home stadium	Jalan Besar Stadium
FIFA code	SGP
First colours	Second colours
Biggest win
	Cambodia 0–5 Singapore ; (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia; 5 September 2001); Singapore 5–0 Vietnam ; (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand; 14 December 2007)
Biggest defeat
	Singapore 1–8 Japan ; (Kallang, Singapore; 14 February 2015); Singapore 0–7 Vietnam ; (Phnom Penh, Cambodia; 19 February 2022); Singapore 0–7 Malaysia ; (Phnom Penh, Cambodia; 11 May 2023)
Southeast Asian Games
Appearances	12 (first in 2001)
Best result	Bronze Medal (2007, 2009, 2013)
Medal record
Medal record
U-23 Southeast Asian Championship
Merdeka Tournament

The Singapore national under-23 football team is the national under-23 association football team of Singapore. The team comes under the organisation of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).

Players are usually selected from the Singapore Premier League team, Young Lions as the squad is composed mostly of players undergoing their National Service and also because of their time playing together in the same squad.

History

Singapore U-22 has a disastrous performance at the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia. Not only the team failed to win a single match, the team were mauled 7–0 by arch-rivals Malaysia U-22 in their final match, and ended the campaign finishing in tenth place at the rock-bottom of the table ranking as the worst team at the tournament.

On 18 May 2023, Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced that coach Philippe Aw has been granted a ‘leave of absence’ as the head coach of the Young Lions team in which a technical review of the SEA Games performance will subsequently take place after his return.

The poor performances of the Singapore U-22 team in at the SEA GAMES have triggered fans who vented their anger and frustrations on social media, with some calling for officials from the FAS to be axed and the time to look at the appointments at every level of Singapore football to ensure that the people of the right expertise are appointed for the right jobs.

Acting FAS president, Bernard Tan also added that until the review has been completed, the Singapore U-22 has decided not to send the team to the upcoming 2023 AFF U-23 Championship held in August and the Asian Games in Hangzhou that will be held in September. As FAS recalibrates its priority on two tournaments, the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification fixtures being held in Vietnam and the 2025 SEA Games. In the review, one of the recommendations was for the Young Lions to focus on the two above mentioned competitions and for all other tournaments to be regarded as developmental opportunities.

On 7 July 2023, FAS unveiled 10 recommendations to improve the country's performance at future SEA Games including giving key U-23 and U-22 players more game time and to approach the multisport event as a two-year project to allow the coach and team to develop over a longer period. The recommendations were formulated based on internal reports submitted by FAS departments after the tournament, “objective" analytics, “subjective" feedback gathered by a SEA Games review committee which interviewed personnel involved in the Games, and discussions with individuals including from other countries' football associations. FAS noted that only eight players in the SEA Games squad were playing regularly in the 2023 Singapore Premier League season where the lack of game time possibly affected the ability of players, especially those not exposed to sufficient minutes, to cope with the tempo of the tournament, where a game is played every two to three days over the course of two days

On 12 July 2023, FAS has confirmed the departure of Philippe Aw as U-23 head coach. He was replaced by former national team player, Nazri Nasir who lead the squad during the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers. Additionally, Nazri, who is currently the Senior Singapore national team assistant coach, will also be assigned to the Young Lions team in the Singapore Premier League. This enables him to track the progress and oversee the development of the young footballers. Players will also have individual development plans to allow the coach to improve their abilities over the two years of preparation. The review panel observed that players arrived for pre games training with different levels of fitness and conditioning. A standard operating procedure will be drawn up to aim to deliver at least two warm-up matches prior to the tournaments. The FAS will also adjust the league scheduling to ensure the age-group players meet this requirement with a minimum of two weeks preparation for the priority tournaments while diets of the players will also be planned when the FAS has control of the meals which currently, only hydration is monitored, while players are advised on healthy eating.

Nazri have his provisional squad report for centralised training from 21 August 2023 in which FAS has made adjustments to the 2023 Singapore Premier League fixture calendar to allow the team to have uninterrupted 14-day preparation as they travelled to Thailand to play a couple of friendly before flying off to Vietnam for their 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers. Eventually Singapore failed to qualify to the final tournament.

Current coaching staff

Position	Name
Technical director	Michael Browne
Team manager	Matthew Sean Wen Hao
Head coach	Tsutomu Ogura
Assistant Coach(es)	Kosei Nakamura
	Kentaro Tsuboi
	Gavin Lee
	Nazri Nasir
	Fadzuhasny Juraimi
Goalkeeper Coach	Rameshpal Singh
Individual Coach	Yuki Fujimoto
Fitness Coach	Jens Eiberger
Match Analyst	Daniel Lau
Match Analyst	Koichiro Iizuka
Senior Sports Trainer	Nasruldin Baharuddin
Sports Trainer	Muklis Sawit
Masseur	Gurnaya Singh
Sports Scientist	Faizal Khalid Abdul Aziz
Physiotherapist	Nurhafizah Abu Sujad
Kit Manager	Omar Mohd
Media Officer	Chia Pui San

Players

Current squad

The following 23 players were selected for the upcoming 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Qualifiers in September. ^[1]

Caps and goals updated as of 6 Sept 2023, after the match against Yemen.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Wayne Chew	(2001-10-22) 22 October 2001 (age 22)	1	0	Balestier Khalsa
12	1GK	Aizil Yazid	(2004-12-24) 24 December 2004 (age 19)	8	0	Young Lions FC
18	1GK	Prathip Ekamparam	(2001-08-21) 21 August 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Young Lions FC

3	2DF	Ilhan Noor	(2002-02-19) 19 February 2002 (age 22)	6	0	Young Lions FC
5	2DF	Aqil Yazid	(2004-01-09) 9 January 2004 (age 20)	6	0	Young Lions FC
6	2DF	Bill Mamadou	(2001-09-08) 8 September 2001 (age 22)	7	0	Lion City Sailors
11	2DF	Jordan Emaviwe	(2001-04-09) 9 April 2001 (age 23)	16	3	Balestier Khalsa
14	2DF	Kieran Aryan Azhari	(2003-05-31) 31 May 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Lion City Sailors U21
15	2DF	Kieran Teo Jia Jun	(2004-04-06) 6 April 2004 (age 20)	7	0	Young Lions FC
23	2DF	Nur Adam Abdullah	(2001-04-13) 13 April 2001 (age 23)	12	1	Lion City Sailors

2	3MF	Haziq Kamarudin	(2001-03-06) 6 March 2001 (age 23)	2	0	Young Lions FC
8	3MF	Harhys Stewart	(2001-03-20) 20 March 2001 (age 23)	16	1	Young Lions FC
10	3MF	Farhan Zulkifli	(2002-11-10) 10 November 2002 (age 21)	6	1	Young Lions FC
13	3MF	Azim Akbar	(2001-12-17) 17 December 2001 (age 22)	0	0	Tanjong Pagar United
16	3MF	Iman Hakim	(2002-03-09) 9 March 2002 (age 22)	2	0	Young Lions FC
19	3MF	Fairuz Fazli	(2005-01-20) 20 January 2005 (age 19)	9	0	Young Lions FC
20	3MF	Asis Ijilral	(2004-03-04) 4 March 2004 (age 20)	3	0	Lion City Sailors U21
21	3MF	Ajay Robson	(2003-12-06) 6 December 2003 (age 20)	8	0	Hougang United
22	3MF	Jared Gallagher	(2002-01-18) 18 January 2002 (age 22)	14	0	Young Lions FC

4	4FW	Zikos Chua	(2002-04-15) 15 April 2002 (age 22)	11	1	Young Lions FC
7	4FW	Syahadat Masnawi	(2001-06-16) 16 June 2001 (age 22)	7	0	Young Lions FC
9	4FW	Abdul Rasaq	(2001-06-16) 16 June 2001 (age 22)	7	0	Lion City Sailors
17	4FW	Syafi’ie Redzuan	(2003-10-25) 25 October 2003 (age 20)	1	0	Young Lions FC

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up in the last 12 months to the Singapore squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Umayr Sujuandy	(2003-02-18) 18 February 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Young Lions FC	2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifier ^PRE
GK	Danial Iliya	(2003-02-06) 6 February 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Young Lions FC	2023 Merlion Cup
GK	Ridhwan Fikri	(1999-04-29) 29 April 1999 (age 25)	5	0	Young Lions	2021 SEA Games
GK	Kimura Riki	(2000-11-14) 14 November 2000 (age 23)	0	0	Balestier Khalsa	2021 SEA Games^PRE

DF	Ryaan Sanizal	(2002-05-31) 31 May 2002 (age 22)	13	0	Tampines Rovers	2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifier ^PRE
DF	Andrew Aw Yong Rei	(2003-03-29) 29 March 2003 (age 21)	5	0	Young Lions FC	2023 SEA Games
DF	Adam Reefdy	(2004-05-08) 8 May 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Young Lions FC	2023 SEA Games
DF	Raoul Suhaimi	(2005-09-18) 18 September 2005 (age 18)	0	0	Young Lions FC	2023 SEA Games ^PRE
DF	Danial Crichton	(2003-04-11) 11 April 2003 (age 21)	0	0	Young Lions FC	2023 Merlion Cup
DF	Harith Kanadi	(2000-08-01) 1 August 2000 (age 23)	2	0	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
DF	Irfan Najeeb	(1999-07-31) 31 July 1999 (age 24)	12	0	Tampines Rovers	2021 SEA Games
DF	Ryhan Stewart	(2000-02-15) 15 February 2000 (age 24)	17	0	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
DF	Syabil Hisham	(2002-09-20) 20 September 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Ulsan HD	2021 SEA Games^PRE
DF	Jacob Mahler^INJ	(2000-04-10) 10 April 2000 (age 24)	19	0	Madura United	2021 SEA Games^PRE
DF	Danish Irfan	(1999-03-10) 10 March 1999 (age 25)	3	0	Young Lions FC	2022 AFF U-23 Championship
DF	Syed Akmal	(2000-04-28) 28 April 2000 (age 24)	12	0	Young Lions FC	2022 AFF U-23 Championship
DF	Sergio Carmona Pérez	(2004-07-25) 25 July 2004 (age 19)			Lion City Sailors

MF	Elijah Lim Teck Yong	(2001-05-08) 8 May 2001 (age 23)	4	0	Young Lions FC	2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifier ^PRE
MF	Fathullah Rahmat	(2002-09-05) 5 September 2002 (age 21)	5	0	Tanjong Pagar United	2023 SEA Games
MF	Amir Syafiz	(2004-06-21) 21 June 2004 (age 19)	2	0	PDRM	2023 SEA Games ^PRE
MF	Ong Yu En	(2003-10-03) 3 October 2003 (age 20)	0	0	Tampines Rovers	2023 SEA Games ^PRE
MF	Ryan Praveen	(2002-05-28) 28 May 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Young Lions FC	2023 Merlion Cup
MF	Zamani Zamri	(2001-05-31) 31 May 2001 (age 23)	1	0	Albirex Niigata (S)	2023 Merlion Cup
MF	Danish Qayyum	(2002-02-02) 2 February 2002 (age 22)	0	0	Lion City Sailors	2023 Merlion Cup
MF	Shah Shahiran	(1999-11-14) 14 November 1999 (age 24)	15	1	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
MF	Saifullah Akbar	(1999-01-31) 31 January 1999 (age 25)	10	2	Lion City Sailors	2021 SEA Games
MF	Arshad Shamim	(1999-12-09) 9 December 1999 (age 24)	4	0	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
MF	Joel Chew	(2000-02-09) 9 February 2000 (age 24)	6	0	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
MF	Rezza Rezky	(2000-11-08) 8 November 2000 (age 23)	1		Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games^PRE
MF	Daniel Goh	(1999-08-13) 13 August 1999 (age 24)	4	1	Young Lions	2022 AFF U-23 Championship

FW	Nicky Melvin Singh	(2002-06-13) 13 June 2002 (age 21)	6	1	Albirex Niigata (S)	2023 SEA Games
FW	Glenn Kweh	(2000-03-26) 26 March 2000 (age 24)	9	3	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
FW	Khairin Nadim	(2004-05-08) 8 May 2004 (age 20)	6	0	Young Lions FC	2021 SEA Games
FW	Ikhsan Fandi	(1999-04-09) 9 April 1999 (age 25)	10	5	BG Pathum United	2021 SEA Games^PRE
FW	Ilhan Fandi^INJ	(2002-11-08) 8 November 2002 (age 21)	2	1	Albirex Niigata (S)	2022 AFF U-23 Championship

^INJ Withdrew due to an injury
^PRE Preliminary squad
^OA Overage player

Tournament records

Olympic Games

Olympic Games Record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1992	did not qualify
1996
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
Total	0/8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Since 1992, football at the Summer Olympics changes into Under-23 tournament.

AFC U-23 Championship

AFC U-23 Championship Record
Year	Round	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
2013	did not qualify
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024	to be determined
2026	to be determined
Total	0/7	0	0	0	0	0	0

Asian Games

Asian Games Record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
2002	did not qualify
2006	Round 1	23rd	3	0	2	1	1	3
2010	Round 1	19th	3	0	1	2	1	6
2014	Round 1	17th	3	1	1	1	5	5
2018	did not enter^[2]
Total	3/4	0	9	1	4	4	7	14

Since 2002, football at the Asian Games changes into Under-23 tournament.

SEA Games

Since 2001, Football at the Southeast Asian Games changes into Under-23 tournament.

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

SEA Games History
Year	Round	Score	Result
2007	Round 1	Singapore 0–0 Laos	Draw
	Round 1	Singapore 3–2 Vietnam	Win
	Round 1	Singapore 1–1 Malaysia	Draw
	Semi Finals	Singapore 0–3 Thailand	Loss
	Third Place	Singapore 5–0 Vietnam	Win
2009	Round 1	Singapore 2–2 Indonesia	Draw
	Round 1	Singapore 2–1 Myanmar	Win
	Round 1	Singapore 0–0 Laos	Draw
	Semi Finals	Singapore 1–4 Vietnam	Loss
	Third Place	Singapore 3–1 Laos	Win
2013	Round 1	Singapore 1–1 Laos	Draw
	Round 1	Singapore 1–0 Vietnam	Win
	Round 1	Singapore 2–0 Brunei	Win
	Round 1	Singapore 1–1 Malaysia	Draw
	Semi Finals	Singapore 0–1 Thailand	Loss
	Third Place	Singapore 2–1 Malaysia	Win

*Win on penalty kicks.

Recent results

Win Draw Lose

2014

2014 Hassanal Bolkiah Trophy

v

9 August 2014 Group B	Vietnam	4–0	Singapore	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
	Hồ Tuấn Tài 18', 49' Nguyễn Công Phượng 58' Nguyễn Văn Toàn 81'	Report		Stadium: Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Brunei Referee: Steve Supresencia, (Philippines)

11 August 2014 Group B	Cambodia	3–1	Singapore	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
	Chan Vathanaka 23' Nub Tola 38' Prak Mony Udom 43'		Zakir Samsudin 55'	Stadium: Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Brunei Referee: Xaypaseuth Phongsanit, (Laos)

13 August 2014 Group B	Brunei	3–1	Singapore	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
	Rashid 2', 68' Adi Said 39'		Yuz Henzry 83'	Stadium: Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Brunei Referee: Suhaizi Shukri, (Malaysia)

16 August 2014 Group B	Malaysia	3–0	Singapore	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
	Shahrul Igwan 8' Ramzi Sufian 59', 80'			Stadium: Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Brunei Referee: Steve Supresencia, (Philippines)

18 August 2014 Group B	Indonesia	6–0	Singapore	Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
	Drajad 6', 12', 49', 69' Ilham Armaiyn 9' Paulo Sitanggang 85'			Stadium: Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium, Brunei Referee: Suhaizi Shukri, (Malaysia)

30 January 2015 2015 Bangabandhu Cup	Thailand	3–2	Singapore	Sylhet, Bangladesh
				Stadium: Sylhet District Stadium

1 February 2015 Bangabandhu Cup	Bahrain	0–0	Singapore	Dhaka, Bangladesh
				Stadium: Bangabandhu National Stadium

5 February 2015 2015 Bangabandhu Cup	Malaysia	1–0	Singapore	Dhaka, Bangladesh
				Stadium: Bangabandhu National Stadium

14 February 2015	Japan	8–1	Singapore	Singapore
			Irfan 78'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium

18 February 2015	Syria	6–1	Singapore	Singapore
	Hael Albadri 4' Mahmoud Al Baher 24' Abdul Mannan Ibrahim 34' 62' Adnan Altaki 39' 75'	Report	Tajeli Selamat 88'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium

4 June 2015 Group stage	Singapore	1–2	Myanmar	Singapore
20:30 UTC+8	Faris 34' (pen.)	Report^{[permanent dead link]}	Nay Lin Tun 24' Ye Ko Oo 60'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium Referee: Yousef Al-Marzouq (Kuwait)

8 June 2015 Group stage	Cambodia	1–3	Singapore	Singapore
20:30 UTC+8	Vathanaka 57'	Report	Safirul 45+1' Faris 45+2' Sahil 90'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium Referee: Ma Ning (China)

4 October 2016	China	4–1	Singapore	Inner Mongolia, China
	Gui Hong 6' Cheng Jin 36,39' Liang Xueming 71'		Shafeeq Faruk 80' Adam Swandi	Stadium: Hohhot Stadium

8 October 2016	China	1–0	Singapore	Yunnan, China
	Gao Zhunyi 6' (pen)			Stadium: Qujing City Sports Centre Stadium

21 February 2015	Syria	2–1	Singapore	Singapore
			Irfan 17'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium

28 February 2015	Cambodia	3–0	Singapore	Phnom Penh, Cambodia
		Report		Stadium: Navy Headquarters Football Field

19 March 2015	Cambodia	3–1	Singapore	Singapore
			Sahil 21'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium

23 March 2015	Cambodia	2–2	Singapore	Singapore
	Chan Vathanaka 55' 75' (pen)	Report	Iqbal Hussain 44' Anumanthan Kumar 88'	Stadium: Jurong West Stadium

1 June 2015 Group stage	Philippines	0–1	Singapore	Singapore
20:30 UTC+8		Report^{[permanent dead link]}	Sheikh 45'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium Referee: Hiroyuki Kimura (Japan)

11 June 2015 Group stage	Singapore	0–1	Indonesia	Singapore
20:30 UTC+8		Report	Evan 47'	Stadium: Jalan Besar Stadium Referee: Kim Hee-gon (South Korea)

27 March 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	Laos	0–0	Singapore	Vientiane, Laos
		Report		Stadium: New Laos National Stadium

29 March 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	Singapore	0–5	China	Vientiane, Laos
		Report	Li Yuanyi 2' Feng Gang 39' Xu Xin 58' (pen.) Zang Yifeng 66' Wu Xinghan 79'	Stadium: New Laos National Stadium

31 March 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification	Singapore	2–2	Mongolia	Vientiane, Laos
	Irfan 18', 59'	Report	Tsogtbaatar 8' Erdenebat 45+1'	Stadium: New Laos National Stadium

4 September 2016	Bahrain	1–0	Singapore	Singapore
	Abdulaziz Rajab 60'	Report		Stadium: Choa Chu Kang Stadium

Singapore national under-23 football team

History

Current coaching staff

Players

Current squad

Recent call-ups

Tournament records

Olympic Games

AFC U-23 Championship

Asian Games

SEA Games

Recent results

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2021

2022

2023

Competitive record

AFC U-23 Asian Cup

AFC U-22 Championship

SEA Games

Merlion Cup

Honours

Regional

See also

References

19 February 2017	Myanmar	1–3	Singapore	Yangon, Myanmar
09:00 (UTC+7)	Hein Htet Aung 80'		Amiruldin Asraf 38' Amiruldin Asraf 48' Haiqal Pashia 82'	Stadium: Thuwunna Stadium, Yangon

28 March 2017	Home United	2–0	Singapore U22 B-Team	Singapore
				Stadium: Bishan Stadium

1 May 2017	Vanuatu	2–3	Singapore	Singapore
	Bong Kalo 10' Kenneth Soromon 75'	Report	Hami Syahin 28' Jordan Chan 45' Muhaimin Suhaimi 62'	Stadium: Choa Chu Kang Stadium

4 May 2017	Vanuatu	1–1	Singapore	Singapore
	Godine Tenene 9'	Report	Hanafi Akbar 82'	Stadium: Choa Chu Kang Stadium

7 May 2017	Vanuatu	1–1	Singapore	Singapore
	Kalo 90+1' (pen.)		Suhaimi 90' (pen.)	Stadium: Bishan Stadium

3 June 2017	Albirex Niigata (S)	cancelled	Singapore	Singapore
				Stadium: Jurong East Stadium

15 June 2017	Qatar	3–0	Singapore	Doha, Qatar
				Stadium: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium

17 June 2017	Qatar	2–0	Singapore	Doha, Qatar
				Stadium: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium

9 July 2017	India	1–0	Singapore	Singapore
	Singh 80'			Stadium: Choa Chu Kang Stadium

12 July 2017	India	0–1	Singapore	Singapore
			Ikhsan 51' (pen.)	Stadium: Choa Chu Kang Stadium