Faris Ramli ready to embrace most demanding season as year-end AFF Championship looms
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
(From left) Singapore men's and women's national team players Ryhan Stewart, Farhanah Ruhaizat, Faris Ramli, Rosnani Azman, Glenn Kweh and Nurhidayu Naszri in the Lions' new home and away kits.
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
SINGAPORE – Into his 15th year as a professional footballer, Faris Ramli is under no illusion that this will be his most physically demanding season yet.
The BG Tampines Rovers winger will compete in up to four tournaments for club and country, including the year-end Asean Football Federation (AFF) Championship, and is set to play at least 50 games in the 2024-25 season, compared to 37 in 2023.
The 32-year-old has also urged fellow Lions with a similar schedule to use this opportunity to demonstrate their “true colours and character”.
The Singapore Premier League (SPL) season, which started in May, will end a year later with each team playing 32 matches.
An extra round of eight matches was added only for this term as the competition tweaks its schedule to sync with the Asian calendar.
The Singapore Cup will begin in January 2025, with the final taking place four months later.
Tampines and Lion City Sailors are also taking part in the Asian Champions League 2, with group matches running from September to December.
Players from both sides are involved in the continental competition up to the week before the Lions kick off their AFF Championship campaign against Cambodia at the National Stadium on Dec 11, with the other Group A matches against Brunei or Timor-Leste (Dec 14, away), Thailand (Dec 17, home) and Malaysia (Dec 20, away) to follow.
The Sailors, including national captain Hariss Harun, Shawal Anuar, Hami Syahin and Izwan Mahbud, and BG Pathum United’s Singaporeans Ikhsan and Ilhan Fandi are also involved in the Asean Club Championship, which made its return this season after a long hiatus, with each team playing at least five group matches.
Speaking at the launch of the Lions’ home and away kits at Weston Corporation’s 313@Somerset outlet on Sept 27, Faris said: “We have a lot of games and I think this is the most tiring year. But how we want to manage it is up to us. We need to embrace it. We need to take responsibilities as players.
“This is the job that we wanted. We are paid for doing what we love. So I think the players need to get their mental and physical (state) right and be in a good state of mind.”
Four-time Asean champions Singapore have not advanced beyond the group stage in four of the past five AFF Championships, a record that Faris hopes to improve on as he seeks to add to his 81-cap tally.
Noting that Singapore’s rivals are also facing a fixture crunch, he said: “In the hard moments, it will show the true colours and character of the players and the teams. I want to see (how we react) during this hard period.”
Heeding Faris’ call is clubmate Glenn Kweh, who is looking forward to his debut at the biennial AFF Championship.
The 24-year-old said: “I’m quite excited, because not every player gets the chance to play in like Asean competitions, as well as continental competitions.
“So for me, I’m seeing (the number of games) in a positive way, to see it as a challenge for myself, and get experience facing quality teams around the region. All these experiences will definitely make me a better player and better prepare myself for an overseas opportunity one day.”
Coming up next for the Lions is an Oct 5-15 training tour of Japan where they will play three matches against J1 League sides, before international friendlies against Myanmar and Chinese Taipei on Nov 15 and 19 respectively at the National Stadium in preparation for the year-end tournament.
The Lionesses will also be vying for regional honours as they compete in the 2025 Asean Women’s Championship qualifiers in Laos.
While official dates are yet to be announced, The Straits Times understands that the qualifiers will be held from Nov 23 to Dec 5.
Only the top three teams out of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Timor-Leste and the hosts will join the last edition’s top four teams – Vietnam, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand – in the tournament proper.
Lionesses skipper Rosnani Azman, 27, said: “As we look at the teams that are playing... I feel like we will have a chance to compete.
“It will not be easy, because I feel like every team is working very hard and every country would want to qualify but spots are open for only three teams. We are going to give our best.”