AIM TO PLAY FOR J2, J3 SIDES: FAS' TAN

He dreams of 'mutually beneficial' plan with Japan to quicken development of football

- David Lee

YOKOHAMA - As with anything that involves competitive sport, one has to play with and against the best to become better.

Playing in friendlies against Japanese top-tier clubs FC Tokyo, Tokyo Verdy and Yokohama F. Marinos, the Singapore national football team - players and backroom staff included - discovered first-hand the gap between themselves and some of the best in Asia.

The intense pace, power and physicality, along with the high level of preparation and professionalism, are some of the things they have learnt over the 10-day training camp in Japan.

The Singapore Premier League does not have these qualities at the moment, and that is why Football Association of Singapore president Bernard Tan is looking to the Land of the Rising Sun to help lift local football.

During the Lions' training stint, he met several clubs from all three divisions of Japan's professional league to "see how our best coaches, youths and players can have meaningful opportunities to join the Japanese ecosystem and develop within it".

The idea is for "long attachments" of at least one year, as he told The Straits Times: "While we work to develop our own ecosystem in Singapore, we need to move our best - coaches and players - overseas so that we can steepen that development curve.