TWO-PART PLAN TO LIFT S'PORE FOOTBALL

FAS making a push to help top locals play overseas; naturalisation efforts to continue

- David Lee

There may not be a silver bullet to arrest Singapore football's decline, but the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) hopes it will have a shot at success with its "homeand-away" plans.

After the FAS Congress at Sheraton Towers on Sept 16, FAS president Bernard Tan revealed that the association will be making a push to help its top footballers develop further by playing in stronger overseas leagues in Europe and Asia from 2025.

He told The Straits Times: "If we have a good youth development system, younger players would debut into the Singapore Premier League (SPL) earlier and, if you are excellent, you could seek a big transfer to senior leagues overseas before the age of 25.

"We can assist them to go to trials and we can encourage overseas clubs to look at our players that are of a high quality... We are discussing some of the mechanisms in which we can support players, who earn slots overseas."

On the home front, if the move to naturalise the likes of Liverpoolborn Perry Ng and Japan-born Kyoga Nakamura materialises, more foreign-born foreign-born footballers could follow suit to plug the gaps in the national team before youth development efforts, such as the Unleash The Roar! (UTR) national project, bear fruit.