Singapore women's national football team

The Singapore women's national football team represents the city-state of Singapore in international women's football and is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body for football in Singapore.

Football Association of Singapore (FAS) became responsible for the development of women's football in 2000, and a women's football department was established in 2004.^[2] Women's football in Singapore has become more popular since then.

In 2015, FAS started its first all-girl training centres for those aged five to 12 at Bowen and Queensway Secondary Schools with a combined intake of about 30.^[3] The ‘A’ and Under-14 Women’s National Teams were honoured when Moya Dodd, FIFA Executive Committee member, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Vice President and Chairman of the AFC Women’s Football Committee, paid a visit at the training session during her Singapore stopover on 17 April 2015.^[4]

In July 2015, the Lionesses were invited to compete in the Luen Thai Cup tournament in Hong Kong. It was considered a milestone moment for the team as the quadrangular was the first international tournament that the team participated in since 2013. They took on Chelsea Hong Kong SC, Northern Mariana Islands All-Stars and Guangdong Agriculture University Team.^[5][6]

On 29 January 2016, the Lionesses played their first international match in two years, losing 1-0 to Sri Lanka at Jalan Besar Stadium. The team comprises players with an average age of 23.^[7][8] The Lionesses was removed the FIFA women's football world rankings because of the 2-year hiatus from international football.^[9]

Singapore hosted Indonesia, Luxembourg and the Maldives for the FAS International Women’s Quadrangular 2018.^[10] The tournament was supported by the UEFA Assist^[11] programme – an international programme by the European confederation to provide practical support in the development of football to member associations and confederations worldwide. The Lionesses lost 4-0 to Luxembourg in the final.^[12]

In 2019, the third all-girl training centre was launched at Meridian Secondary School.^[3] Promising players at these FAS training centres were then placed in an Under-12 development squad that was formed in 2018.^[3] As of 2020, there were four women's national teams - 'A' team, Under-19, Under-16 and Under-14 - representing Singapore in international competitions.^[2][13]

In preparation for the 2021 SEA Games, the Lionesses played their first-ever ticketed matches in the 2022 FAS Tri-Nations Series.^[14] This was also the first time in four years for the team to play in front of a home crowd. The last time the team played at home was for the FAS International Women's Quadrangular in 2018.^[15] During the 2021 SEA Games, they registered their first win in nearly 37 years by defeating Laos 1-0. They had not won a match at the SEA Games since 1985.^[16]

On 13 July 2022, the Lionesses claimed their first victory at the AFF Women's Championship in 18 years by defeating a depleted Indonesia side 2-0 at Binan Football Stadium in Manila.^[17] Indonesia could name only four substitutes as nine players were unwell.^[18] They finished fourth with four points in the six-team Group A.

On 14 October 2022, the FAS announced that by mutual agreement, Stephen Ng would step down from his role as Singapore Women’s National Team Head Coach with effect 31 October 2022. Former international Ratna Suffian, who served as Ng’s assistant, took over as the interim coach.^[19] Karim Bencherifa was appointed as the new Women’s National Team Head Coach from 1 March 2023.^[20]

On 6 December 2024, the Lionesses defeated Timor-Leste 1-0 in the 2024 AFF Women's Cup third-place play-off to ensure their qualification for the 2025 ASEAN Women's Championship.^[21] However, on 9 June 2025, FAS announced that the team would not be participating in the competition, seven hours after the draw ceremony. The decision was influenced by the need to manage player welfare, maintain performance standards and prepare the teams for the challenges ahead. The Lionesses would then focus on the remaining three competitions, namely AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, AFC Under-20 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers and the 2025 SEA Games, that were held later that year.^[22]

The following is a list of matches in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixtures

As of 5 July 2024

• Chen Cai Ying (Jul 2015 - Apr 2017)^[9][5][25]

• K. Balagumaran (Apr 2017 – Oct 2018)^[26][27]

• Muhammad Razif Ariff Bin Bahari (Oct 2018 - Nov 2018, as interim )^[28]

• Melisa Ye Hui Ting (Nov 2018 - Dec 2019)^[29][30][31]

• Ratna Suffian (Dec 2019 – Mar 2021, as caretaker)^[31]

• Stephen Ng Heng Seng (Mar 2021 – Oct 2022)^[31][19]

• Ratna Suffian (Nov 2022 – Feb 2023, as interim)^[19][20][32]

• Karim Bencherifa (Mar 2023 – present)^[20]

The following 23 players are called up to the squad for Seychelles ‘A’ International matches & SEA Games.

Caps and goals updated 29 Oct 2025 following the match against Saudi Arabia.

The following players have also been called up to the squad in the last 36 months.^[33]

*Active players in bold, statistics based on 31st SEA Games squad.^[33]

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

*Draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Summary

• Sport in Singapore
• Football in Singapore

• Singapore women's national football team – official website at fas.org.sg (in English)
• FIFA profile