Singapore’s Young Lions and Lionesses get tough SEA Games draws
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Singapore's Under-22 football team suffered their worst SEA Games defeat in a 7-0 drubbing at the 2023 Games.
PHOTO: FAS
Follow topic:
- The Singapore Under-22s are in Group C along with defending champions Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines for the Dec 3-18 men's football tournament.
- In the Dec 4-17 women's football tournament, Singapore are in Group A with Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
- The Young Lions last won a bronze in 2013, while the Lionesses picked up a silver in 1985.
AI generated
SINGAPORE – The odds are against the Singapore men’s under-22 football making it past the group stage at the upcoming SEA Games in Thailand.
In the draw held during the Games’ first technical delegates meeting at the Devalux Resort and Spa in Bangkok on Oct 19, the Young Lions were slotted into Group C alongside defending champions Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines.
Group A will feature hosts Thailand, Cambodia and Timor-Leste, while Group B comprises Vietnam, Malaysia and Laos.
The group stage, which kicks off on Dec 3, before the Dec 9 opening ceremony, will be played in Songkhla (Group A) and Chiang Mai (Group B and C), with the three group winners and the best runners-up advancing to the semi-finals. The knockout rounds will be held in Bangkok with the final on Dec 18.
Singapore, being the only team in the fourth and lowest pot during the draw, will have to up their game significantly if they hope to make the semi-finals for the first time since they clinched the bronze in 2013.
Since then, the Young Lions have underperformed at the biennial Games.
They hit a nadir at the last Games in 2023 when they were thumped 7-0 by Malaysia
Singapore finished their campaign with just a solitary point after the goal-less draw with Laos. As the lowest-ranked team based on points and goal difference, they became the lowest seeds out of 10 teams in the draw for the 2025 tournament.
The Young Lions were also not in the Singapore National Olympic Council’s provisional SEA Games list
Meanwhile, in the women’s draw, Singapore are also up against it after they were drawn from the third and second-lowest pot into Group A alongside hosts Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia.
Group B consists of defending champions Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, Malaysia. The top two teams from each of the two groups will progress to the semi-finals. The Dec 4-17 tournament will be held in Chonburi.
(From left) Nicole Lim from Singapore, Chhiv Selena from Cambodia and Venetia Lim from Singapore during the Lionesses' 1-0 loss at the 2023 SEA Games.
PHOTO: ST FILE
National women’s coach Karim Bencherifa said of the draw: “It’s a balanced and exciting group – every opponent brings a different challenge, and that’s exactly what we need to keep progressing as a team.”
The Lionesses, who won a silver in 1985 but are now the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at world No. 149, had lost 4-0 to Thailand and 1-0 to Cambodia at the previous edition before beating Laos 2-1.
Their most recent meeting against Indonesia ended in a 3-0 defeat at the Asean Football Federation Women’s Cup
“It will be a challenging campaign, but we are positive, united, and determined to prepare the best we can and put up a proud performance for Singapore,” added Bencherifa.
“I believe in the spirit and character of the team, and we will make the most of every session we have from now until the SEA Games to prepare well.”
