Will Singapore Be Able To Qualify for the World Cup?

Singapore is one of the items in the long list of aspiring nations that are yet to be qualified for a spot in the FIFA World Cup. 

Now that a minuscule country like Qatar was able to bag hosting rights for a FIFA World Cup, the dreams of the Lion City to host the event and automatically qualified for it came alive.  

Singaporeans are die-hard fans of European football

Unlike other nations in Asia where baseball, cricket, and basketball are the most common sport, Singaporeans is known for their passion for European football. 

In fact, the Singapore Premier League which was founded on April 1996 was heavily modeled after the notorious English Premier League. Before the establishment of the football authority in the country, Singapore had been playing in the football leagues in Malaysia since 1921.

The passion for football in Singapore was also extended to their national men’s football which has odds at world cup betting sites 2022. The Lions were representing Singapore in various regional tournaments but they never qualified for the World Cup.

Several attempts to qualify

In order to be able to qualify for the World Cup, the national football team from a country that is a member of FIFA must pass the qualification round in their respective football federations. 

Meanwhile, the alternative and easiest way to be qualified to play in the FIFA World Cup is to be the host country of the event. 

According to the official record of FIFA, 134 national football teams are not yet qualified for the World Cup. Singapore is one of them with its 11 attempts along with Ethiopia and Chinese Taipei. Meanwhile, the country that has the most attempt is Luxembourg with 20 attempts.

Status of the Singapore national team

In recent tournaments, the Lions have been doing well in regional matches but it is not enough for them to be able to qualify for the quadrennial football event.

In 2021, the Lions have made a multi-million dollar deal with Brazilian football player Diego Lopes. The foreign athlete used to play in the Portuguese Primeira Liga team, Rio Ave. 

Another foreign player added to the team is the South Korean professional player Kim Shin-wook who came from the Chinese Super League team, Shanghai Shenhua.

While the team has strong manpower, the problem of the squad comes from other aspects of football team management. Among these problems include the lack of competent football team coaches, inadequate sports training facilities, overspending on expensive foreign players, and inexperience in regional competitions, among others.

Singapore’s 2034 World Cup bid

As we mentioned above, Singapore rarely progresses in regional competitions such as the AFC Suzuki Cup which is their main ticket to win a qualifying slot in a World Cup finals. Meanwhile, the other way is to be the host country of the event in which the winner will be granted automatic qualification to the World Cup.

A few years ago, Singapore is one of the five nations that proposed a joint bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Aside from Singapore, the other member of the five-nation Asean bid is Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. You can also support the games of these nations at the world cup betting sites 2022.

The proposal was approved by the participating nations at the Asean Ministerial Meeting on Sports. If the proposal has won, the Asean joint hosting bid will be the first five-nation hosts in the history of the World Cup. 

Final words

While Singapore is not a formidable opponent in regional football tournaments in Asia like Thailand and Japan, for them to be able to qualify for the World Cup, there are other ways they could be granted the rare privilege. 

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