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SINGAPORE – 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 “home-and-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 Liverpool-born Perry Ng and Japan-born Kyoga Nakamura materialises, more 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. Noting that Indonesia started with nine foreign-born players in their goal-less 2026 World Cup qualifier against Australia on Sept 10, Tan said: “Naturalisation will continue to stay even if we have a full-grown development programme. We need to be open to talents who are willing to play for Singapore. But we value citizenship seriously and we have a vigorous process. We don’t give citizenships because of football, but rather we take footballers because they want to be Singaporeans.” However, while changes are being made to “rebuild” the local football ecosystem, Tan cautioned the near future could remain gloomy before the outlook brightens. From being four-time Asean Football Federation Championship winners in 2012 to languishing as the region’s sixth-ranked team, and suffering heavy defeats in age-group tournaments in recent years, Singapore football has been in the doldrums. In his president’s message in the FAS 2023-24 annual report, Tan wrote: “Football in Singapore is clearly not where we want it to be... Our re-emergence back to the top will not be quick. “But even as we lay the foundation for a brighter future, the competition around us is intensifying. Our Asean neighbours are not standing still. We not only have to run but run faster than our neighbours. This is no easy feat.” When asked if the Lions could reach the semi-finals of the Dec 8-Jan 5 AFF Championship, he challenged the team to “cause an upset” against the higher-ranked Thais and Malaysians in Group A. The 58-year-old also pointed out that the wheels for change are already in motion with the launch of UTR in 2021. Since then, the FAS and UTR have made considerable changes to the youth development system, introducing the Academy Accreditation System, operationalising training compensation and incentive schemes, establishing the Singapore Youth League, kick-starting the National Development Centre and introducing overseas scholarships for top players aged 14 to 19. There are currently 17 scholarship holders training in Europe and the United States, while more than 3,000 schoolchildren are playing competitive football. The efforts were reflected in the financial report, which saw FAS expenditure rise from $28 million to $30.5 million, with most of the increase going to expenses for the SPL, other domestic football leagues, football development and national team training costs. Under UTR funding, a high-performance training facility was also opened at the Kallang Football Hub, and it is hoped that former Japan assistant coach Tsutomu Ogura can instil a brand of high-intensity football across the national teams. At the Congress, Tan estimated it would take around five years before these efforts translate into better results in international competitions. He said: “We need to see and think long-term... established structures and systems will allow these improvements to be institutionalised.” Other upcoming changes include a fresh request in October for proposals from local and foreign teams who wish to play in the SPL, regulations to ensure more youth players in the Singapore Football League, more teams in the Island Wide League, more age groups in the Singapore Youth League and a new girls’ competition. Towards the end of his address, Tan called for unity from the local football fraternity even as he assured that the FAS and UTR “want to do better in engagement”, and also requested feedback to ensure there is “course correction” when errors are made. He added: “Feedback done in a constructive manner is essential to helping the system move forward... but certain forms of criticism can be destructive. Football needs cool heads, courage and unity, not anger, fear and division. Constructive engagement is crucially needed for us to move fast and far. “I know patience is a fragile thing, especially in football, but we have made serious steps and we want to do more.”