Where to watch World Cup: Free screenings at 70 locations including community clubs

SINGAPORE - With just a week to the start of the World Cup, Singapore fans will have many free options to catch the matches, including at about 70 locations at community clubs, ActiveSG sports centres and Safra clubhouses.

Football’s most prestigious tournament, which will be held in Qatar,

will kick off next Sunday

with the hosts meeting Ecuador at 11.55pm.

There will be live screenings at 58 community clubs, five ActiveSG sports centres (Hougang, Jurong West, Pasir Ris, Toa Payoh and Woodlands) and the Sports Hub. The Plaza at the National Library Building will be showing the Dec 17 third-placing match and Dec 18 final (both at 11pm).

A list of

community screening venues was announced

on Sunday by the People’s Association (PA), Sport Singapore and the National Library Board. It can be found on PA’s website.

Safra had earlier said on its website that fans can watch selected matches for free at its six clubhouses, while Changi Airport will also have free screenings at ST3PS at Basement 2 of Terminal 3, which usually holds daily movie screenings and live weekend performances. The space has a seating capacity of 200, with additional standing space for 100 people.

Fans are urged to check the schedule at these places before heading down as not all matches will be shown at all venues.

For most of the first fortnight, there will be four matches every day kicking off at 6pm, 9pm, 11.55pm and 3am.

World Cup buzz is also set to extend to bars and restaurants, which will be decorated with national team jerseys and flags to suit the occasion. Some food and beverage outlets are hiring more staff to cope with this busy period.

Brewerkz, which had stopped showing live sports at its restaurants, will screen the earlier games every day, as well as the third-placing match and final, after receiving requests for screenings, said executive director Tan Wee Tuck.

Cafe Football, which has outlets in Woodleigh and Jurong, will employ around 50 per cent more manpower to handle the expected 50 per cent to 70 per cent increase in footfall, said co-owner Simon Tan.

He noted that both venues, which have a total seating capacity of 330, are usually full during weekly screenings of English Premier League matches and that they should be able to cope during the World Cup, which will see 64 matches played over 29 days.

Restaurant and bar chain Harry’s will screen matches at all its 19 outlets, about half of which will extend operating hours to accommodate the midnight games.

Its head of marketing Hannah Teo added that outlets with a quieter lunch crowd will also open later because of limited manpower.

The Bar Station at Tanjong Katong, which usually screens Liverpool matches for fan club events, is hiring more part-timers and extending its opening hours to 2am.

Owner Jasmine Ong is excited to see fans enjoy the sport together.

She said: “It’s a fantastic atmosphere and it’s really fun... It will be nice to see fans in different jerseys come together to watch and enjoy the matches together.”

While most operators were concerned about the increased costs and prices for screening the matches, they were confident the crowd numbers would make up for the additional operating costs.

Mr Simon Tan paid around $28,000 for the World Cup to be screened at Woodleigh (10 screens) and Jurong (seven screens), while Ms Ong forked out about $3,000 for one screen.

Both noted that prices had increased from the 2018 World Cup.

Mr Tan, 44, said: “The World Cup happens once every four years and, together with the reopening of the country after Covid-19, people are gearing up to come and soak in the atmosphere.

“We don’t take things for granted that people will come here to watch, but... football is a big thing here, so I’m pretty confident we will gather the footfall needed.”

Ms Ong added: “We are a sports bar, we also show rugby, cricket and so on. We’ve already had people asking if we would show the World Cup, so naturally we would sign up for it.

“It’s more about providing the service for people so they can enjoy it.”