The Lions’ long and winding road to the Asian Cup in Riyadh

Since making their Asian Cup debut as hosts in 1984, the Singapore national men’s football team have failed to reach the continental showpiece again. In November 2025, they finally ended more than four decades of hurt by qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. The Straits Times looks back at their roller-coaster journey to the promised land.

1. Asian Cup debut (1984)

Having failed in four Asian Cup qualifying campaigns since their maiden participation in 1960, Singapore made their Asian Cup debut as hosts in 1984. They beat India 2-0, lost to China (2-0) and the United Arab Emirates (1-0), and drew with Iran (1-1), and did not advance to the semi-finals.

2. Qualification heartbreak I (1996)

The next time Singapore came close to qualifying was in 1996 when they were unbeaten in their six-match qualifying campaign. After holding Thailand to a 1-1 draw in Bangkok, they needed to beat the South-east Asian kingpins at home to advance as Group 3 winners. They were 2-0 up via two V. Selvaraj headers after 65 minutes, but ended up drawing 2-2 and missed out.

3. Qualification heartbreak II (2010)

Similarly, an unexpected 1-0 win in Thailand, accompanied by other favourable results, meant that they needed only a draw in Jordan to progress to the 2011 Asian Cup as Group E runners-up. Noh Alam Shah’s 48th-minute strike cancelled out Jordan’s ninth-minute lead, but the Lions had no answer to Anas Bani Yaseen’s winner on the hour.

4. Shaky start (March 25, 2025)

After suffering a historic 1-0 friendly loss to minnows Nepal at home, Singapore’s 2027 Asian Cup qualifying campaign started on a disappointing note when they were held to a 0-0 draw at the National Stadium against Hong Kong, with goals from Lionel Tan and Shawal Anuar harshly chalked off.

5. Back on track (June 10, 2025)

The Lions scraped through with a 2-1 win at minnows Bangladesh in their next qualifier in front of a partisan 21,317-strong crowd in Dhaka as they led Group C on goals scored.

6. Ogura out, Lee in (June 24, 2025)

Two weeks later, a bombshell dropped when well-liked Singapore coach Tsutomu Ogura stepped down due to personal reasons, and his assistant Gavin Lee stepped up as interim coach.

7. Trust the process? (September 2025)

Lee’s first two friendlies in September 2025 did not yield a win as they lost 2-1 to Malaysia and drew 1-1 with Myanmar, with Ilhan Fandi scoring both goals.

8. Huge setback (Oct 9, 2025)

A calamitous back pass by Jordan Emaviwe not just handed India a last-gasp 1-1 draw, but also allowed Hong Kong to leapfrog Singapore to the top of Group C.

9. Comeback is on (Oct 14, 2025)

Five days later, the Lions made a poor start against India in Goa and trailed after a Lallianzuala Chhangte rocket. But they mustered a brilliant comeback to win 2-1 with a brace from Song Ui-young, who had recently returned to national team duty after almost a year.

10. History is made (Nov 18, 2025)

Singapore travelled to Hong Kong trailing the hosts only on goals scored knowing this was a winner-takes-all qualifier.

The Lions trailed again after a Matthew Orr opener but Shawal and Ilhan responded after the break to preserve the visitors’ remarkable perfect away record and send them to the Asian Cup. The win saw them going three points clear with just one qualifier remaining and the head-to-head record being the first tiebreak criteria.