A STAR APPOINTMENT
To truly energise Singapore football, the FAS needs to make an appointment so big that even the most casual fan would recognise.
The average Singapore football fan is brought up on a steady diet of the English Premier League, and the World Cup and European Championships. We are familiar with all the biggest names in world football.
And on top of that, we’ve been engineered to think of Singapore as being world class in almost every aspect – except our football, where most Singaporeans still think of us as being a backward nation.
Landing a head coach of a word-class calibre would signal a real change to our status quo, and fuel the belief that Forrest Li is making good on a promise of taking Singapore football to the next level.
Who could such a coach be?
Jurgen Klopp, the manager who led Liverpool to win their first EPL title in 30 years, is of course the dream. But he is clearly unavailable. He is currently the Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull and has expressed several times that he is not looking to go back into coaching.
Which other names might ignite an outpouring of excitement?
- Zinedine Zidane, who’s been waiting to be chosen as France’s national team coach since 2021. Hailed as one of the greatest footballers in the world in his prime, Zidane would be a name even the most casual fan would be excited about.
- Joachim Low, a World Cup winner as Germany’s head coach, and unemployed since 2021. He’s indicated that he would like to continue coaching a national team and not a club side.
- Ange Postecoglou, a serial second season winner who most recently led Tottenham Hotspur to their first major trophy in 17 years, and their first European trophy in 41. Postecoglou is also familiar with Asia, having led Australia to the Asian Cup in 2015, and Yokohama Marinos to their first J1 league title in 14 years, back in 2019. He was unceremoniously sacked by Spurs after winning the trophy and making an entire generation of Spurs fans cry.
Any of these names would send shivers down the football fanbase’s spine, and almost certainly guarantee 50,000 fans in the National Stadium regularly.
Optics-wise, it would also be the strongest sign that the Forrest Li era has begun with a bang.
Would it be an expensive statement, and possibly fiscally irresponsible? Probably, but football fans care more about performance and results.
Would such an appointment solve the root problems of Singapore football? No, but it would buy a whole lot of time and cover for the leadership to fix things.
And even if it might not immediately take our football results to the next level, it would certainly do that for our fan interest.
Edwin Yeo, a former football commentator, leads the Singapore office of SPRG, a regional integrated communications agency.
