India Football Team Rival Watch: Singapore

The Blue Tigers face the Lions in a crucial double-header!

The Indian Football team are aiming to get their first win in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers when they face Singapore in their next two qualifiers. The Blue Tigers are set to play their first game against Singapore at the Singapore National Stadium on Thursday (9 October), followed by the return leg at the Fatorda Stadium on Tuesday (14 October).

India have had a pretty woeful outing in the Asian Cup qualifiers so far, playing out a draw and also losing in their recent game against Hong Kong. The Blue Tigers are in desperate need of a win, but now they face a pretty competitive and challenging opponent in Singapore.

Even though the Singapore national team are ranked lower than India in the FIFA Rankings, they are no real pushovers at all. Singapore are pushing for a place in the 2027 AFC Asian Cup and will be aiming to take a major step towards achieving that goal by defeating India. Here, we look at what can be expected from the Singapore national team.

About the team

The Singapore national football team have been competing at the international level since 1948, and has strongly competed ever since. Despite the relatively small size of the country, the Singapore football team have often punched above their weight by enjoying their fair share of success over the decades.

The Lions have enjoyed most of their success in the ASEAN Championship scene. Indeed, they have won the ASEAN Championship four times in the past, with all of the victories coming after 1995. They have also won the silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games three times in the past, and won the Tri-Nations Series once.

Even though Singapore have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, they have played in the AFC Asian Cup once in their history. Their only participation in the continental tournament came in the 1984 AFC Asian Cup, when they suffered a group stage exit, but were able to get a win over India in the group stages!

Recent performances

The Lions are actually heading into their double-header against India on the back of some decent form in the year of 2025. They have played six matches in this calendar year so far, out of which two have been the 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

Singapore were held to a goalless draw by Hong Kong in their first AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, but they came up with a major result in the second one with an away win over Bangladesh. As a result, the Lions are now sitting in top place in their group in the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers heading into the game against India.

Apart from the win over Bangladesh, Singapore also defeated the Maldives national team in a friendly match in June 2025. They have played six matches in 2025, out of which they have won two games, lost twice and also played out two draws. They are, incidentally, winless in their last two games and aim to end that barren run against India.

The coach

Gavin Lee has been working as an interim manager for the Singapore national football team since June 2025. He has continued to hold the position three months after taking up the role, mostly because the Singapore Football Federation can’t seem to find a suitable replacement for him.

Lee gained the majority of his reputation as the manager of Tampine Rovers, a team he managed for five years! After working as their assistant manager, Lee took over the Tampines Rovers first team squad and helped the Singapore side enjoy quite a lot of success under him.

The 35-year-old manager would go on to manage 154 matches as the Tampines Rovers boss, managing a 51.3% win rate as they scored a whopping 355 goals under him! He guided them to win the Singapore FA Cup and Singapore Community Shield and also produced some thrilling football.

Gavin Lee prefers to operate mostly with a 4-2-3-1 formation, but he has yet to implement his style perfectly with his national team players. Singapore have been unable to win the first two matches under Lee, as he tries to get the players fitted into his system.

The 35-year-old is a forward-thinking boss who encourages attacking football. He likes his side to use the wide areas to get the ball forward and be quick with their movement as well as execution in the final third. Lee will urge Singapore to take the fight to India and test their backline with some blistering transitions to get his first major international win as a coach.

Players to watch

Ikhsan Fandi

Ikhsan Fandi has been in impressive form for the Singapore national team, scoring crucial goals at regular intervals to help his national team soar. The 26-year-old forward has been able to score three goals in Singapore’s two wins in the year of 2025, which included a huge goal against Bangladesh in the AFC Asian Cup qualifier clash. The Ratchaburi FC forward has been a devoted player for the Lions, scoring 21 goals in 41 international matches for Singapore.

He is blessed with an impressive pace, which allows him to dart forward with the ball and has that eye for sniffing out big chances. Fandi’s smart off-the-ball movement can be a real thorn for the Indian defenders, as he knows how to drag centre-backs out of position to open up space for his team.

Fandi will look to continue his rich international form of 2025 in the upcoming matches against India and give his side the upper hand in their dream of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup.

Ilhan Fandi

Ilhan Fandi has established himself as a rising star in the Singapore football scene and has performed really well under Gavin Lee for the national team. He has scored three goals in 18 games and seems to be following the footsteps of his elder brother, Ikhsan. Illan will look to provide more competition to Ikhsan and a sense of variety to the Singapore national team with some fiery performances against India. The 22-year-old has scored in Singapore’s last two games and is flying high on momentum when it comes to the international scene.

He will look to be a surprise package for Singapore with his smart movement and execution in the final third. Fandi will look to be smart with his link-up play and also sneak into the open spaces in the final third and use his clinical finishing smartly to help Singapore get the better of India.

What to expect?

Even though Singapore might have failed to win their last two games, they are definitely in control of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers group so far and won’t look to throw away that advantage. The Lions have been brave in their performances in the qualifiers so far and they will not change their plans for the matches against India. Singapore will look to control the majority of the matches and be smart with their quick attacking moves to trouble the Indian defenders.

They will also aim to be impactful on the transitions and get at the end of chances to clinically finish them off. Fans can expect an intense affair because of the desperation for both sides to get three points, and Singapore will throw the kitchen sink at the Blue Tigers to get vital points and stay on top of the group.

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