Singapore FA sets ambitious goal to qualify for 2034 FIFA World Cup

Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is aiming for the skies as they have revealed ambitions of helping the Singapore national team qualify for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. 

“We’ve always wanted to be somewhere on the world stage, so we need to start. 2034 is 15 years away. So, you’re looking at boys today who are maybe eight, nine to 14, 15 and if you can cultivate the programme that has that endgame in mind, it will do us a lot of good,” Tong, also the Senior Minister of State for Health and Law, told the Straits Times.

The 2034 World Cup is set to be a 48-team tournament, compared to the 32-team affairs which is set to end with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. And the increase in the number of participants (eight from Asia) could help new nations to qualify for the tournament.

There has also been an attempt from the ASEAN nations to bring the World Cup to Southeast Asia in 2034 which was announced by Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha during the ASEAN Summit 2019 earlier this year.

It is to note that Singapore had launched ‘Goal 2010’ back in 1998 with the hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. But, the Singaporeans are yet to qualify for football’s biggest tournament.

“There are a bit more opportunities. The obvious powerhouses, Korea Republic, Japan, Australia, maybe some of the Middle Eastern countries, Saudi Arabia and IR Iran, the next tier you have Uzbekistan, Central Asians, and of course Southeast Asians,” Tong said.

“We can look at that as a goal. So it’s not unrealistic, but it’s also not easy,” he added.