Fresh blood for a beating heart: A youth resurgence in Singaporean football
From roaring crowds to rising youth participation, a youthful vigour is fuelling an intoxicating wave of passion for Singaporean football.
SINGAPORE — The Singapore v Thailand home leg was to be 24-year-old Ace Koh’s maiden experience in his brand new Singapore home jersey. Instead, he gave it to his younger sister Alythea, 22, for her first Lions match, leaving himself in another shade of red — a Portugal jersey.
“I just want her to have a wonderful experience, to really feel like part of the fan group,” said Ace. “I am just looking forward to seeing her enjoy the match.”
Around them, a sold-out Jalan Besar Stadium was providing quite the initiation. More than 5,000 fans turned the stands into a rippling sea of red, echoing “Satu Nada”, meaning one heartbeat, and groaning in unison at every misplaced pass.
Their night at the stadium was just one of many signs that the Lions are capturing greater attention among younger Singaporeans, from teenagers taking active roles in supporter groups to young footballers talking more about the national team. For some, the recent run has sparked new interest; for others, it has intensified a connection with Singapore football formed years earlier.
Tickets for the match sold out in under 90 minutes. Two years ago, tickets for the home leg of the 2024 ASEAN Championship semi-final between Singapore and Vietnam took six hours to sell out.
A youthful vigour
Greg Lee, a 23-year-old volunteer coach with Football Plus' Under-13 team, has noticed his young players paying more attention to the national side this year.
“There’s a recent onset of support for the national team, a lot more vigour,” said Greg, who is pursuing a Master of IT in Business at Singapore Management University.
“At least 80 per cent of the kids know what is going on — they would know that Singapore is playing against Thailand. In all my years, this is the only year that I've seen younger kids talk this much about the national team.”
A 2025 survey by Sport Singapore, which polled at least 4,500 residents, found that 51 per cent of football participants were aged 13 to 34.
Over the past decade, opportunities for young Singaporeans to play football have expanded through grassroots initiatives like the ActiveSG Football Academy, which offers affordable weekend sessions priced at roughly $8 per class for locals aged three to 16.
New blood
Though 20-year-old Harrie Lim has been playing football at the street soccer court near his house since he was six, he had never got into local football until this year.
High on World Cup fever, Harrie had accepted an invitation from his cousin to watch the ASEAN Cup clash between Singapore and Timor Leste.
“The live experience is really different. Being able to be together with everyone, cheering for the team and also that adrenaline when the ball moves back into our own half.”
Harrie’s support for the Lions has influenced his gameplay in mobile football game eFootball, which he has been playing for six years.
“Before, I would just try to build the most overpowered teams using the players with the highest rating in the game. But recently I've been fitting Singapore players like Ilhan and Ikhsan into my team.”
Harrie’s team consists of a front three of FC Barcelona legend Samuel Eto'o, FC Bayern Munich talisman Luis Diaz and Singapore star striker Ilhan Fandi.
Harrie is looking forward to supporting the Lion City Sailors in their Singapore Premier League clash against Tampines Rovers on Sep 6.
A succession for support
Beyond newcomers like Alythea, the crowds at Jalan Besar included young supporters whose ties to Singapore football predate the Lions’ latest run.
At 17, Ian Chan has been a SingaBrigade member since 2023. Now a social media administrator for the national football team’s fervent fan group, the first-year Ngee Ann Polytechnic mass communications student curates posts and match day content covering the national team.
A strong advocate for more youth support for local football, Ian’s first SingaBrigade match experience was aptly in support of Singapore’s U23 team against Hong Kong’s U23 team in the 2023 Merlion Cup.
“At the end of the day, this is our team. They are flying our flag high. The least we can do is get behind them and support them,” said Ian.
25-year-old Zachary Naidu’s first exposure to football was watching Arsenal matches with his father on weekends.
In a “turn of fate”, a surprise primary school visit from current national team captain Hariss Harun brought him into the Singapore football fray. Zachary, an International Relations and Affairs Masters student at University of Amsterdam, still keeps the card Hariss signed that day safely stored in a box at his home.
“I thought it was the coolest thing ever. He had a small football clinic, and I thought it was the best sport I've ever played in my life.”
Since then, Zachary has been an avid Singapore football fan.
Jay Parmer, 26, recalls his maiden live Singapore football experience fondly. The Oxford University law graduate was just 11 when he watched the Lions best Malaysia 5-3 in a World Cup qualifier, also at Jalan Besar Stadium.
This time, Jay was also cheering on former St. Joseph's Institution (SJI) schoolmate Jacob Mahler. Once on opposing ends of the pitch with the Singapore footballer, Jay is putting aside their past rivalry to support the national team.
“He scored against me twice in the inter-class games finals in 2014. I was in goal and he was playing up top,” quipped Jay.
Bruised lions, hungry lions
Singapore’s 2026 ASEAN Championship run ultimately ended in the semi-final. Despite beating Thailand 2-1 in the second leg — their first victory over the War Elephants since 2012 — the Lions bowed out 3-4 on aggregate.
Despite Singapore’s home loss to Thailand, head coach and NTU alumnus Gavin Lee was thankful for the “new wave of support,” and for the fans backing the team through a tough result.
Mr Lee highlighted a desire to show the right values to the next generation of young fans.
“You can get knocked down in life no problem, but it's how you pick yourself up, how you go again (that matters),” Mr Lee told the Nanyang Chronicle at a post-match press conference on Aug 15.
One united people
Still, 20-year-old SingaBrigade graphic designer Chuan Rei Hern took heart in the Lions’ showing across both legs.
“Gone are the days where the entire team was blamed by netizens for not having a fighting spirit. I think the team really showed real growth that we had hoped to see when Gavin took over. This was a team that made Singaporeans believe,” he said.
Rei Hern hopes to see a continuation of this spirit, even in tougher fixtures in the near future.
“The ASEAN Cup is merely a conduit for bigger things to come in local football. If the Lions continue to play with heart, and ultimately as a bonus manage to get results, we will get closer to every single milestone ahead of us.”
Singapore, which ranks 148th in the world, will now turn their attention to the FIFA ASEAN Cup, which will run from Sept 24 to Oct 4. They will face hosts Indonesia (118th), Malaysia (136th) and Bangladesh (181st) in Group A of the Premier Division.
The Lions can already count on seeing a familiar face again. Singapore may have fallen short of the final, but Alythea had seen enough to want to return.
“Coming to this match re-ignited that fire in me,” she said.
“I expected a game of fun and excitement but left with overwhelming feelings of joy and pride for my country's football team. No words could fully capture how I felt after the match that day.”
