FAS working towards achieving football excellence

SINGAPORE - We thank Mr Yeo Hock Yew ("All's not well with S'pore football"; Forum Online, Sept 11), Mr George Quek ("Foreign interest in our players augurs well for S'pore football"; Forum Online, Sept 16), Mr Ivan Goh ("Women's game needs a leg-up"; Sept 16) and Mr Melvin Tan ("Singapore football: Look at the big picture"; Sept 16) for their letters.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) appreciates the continued support of our local football fans.

We are heartened that more coaches and players are being offered overseas opportunities and attachment stints; their enhanced development will further raise Singapore's footballing standards in the coming years.

We respect their aspirations to seek new challenges overseas, and we understand they will always carefully consider the merits of every offer they receive before coming to a decision.

The two recent international friendly matches in China and Hong Kong were aimed at facilitating the development of our young players, who are likely to represent Singapore at the SEA Games in December.

The games also served to assess the national team ahead of the next Asian Cup qualifying match against Syria next month.

The national team officials are always in discussion on what is the best way forward for all our teams, especially with regard to participation in friendly and competitive matches.

As set out in the FAS Strategic Plan, extensive training and development plans are in place for all our teams as they strive to achieve excellence at the various age-group levels.

The FAS is always working to secure opportunities for our former national players and coaches, whom we have always held in high regard.

However, we are limited by the availability of posts, and we must apply a rigorous selection process to ensure that the best person is selected for the job.

One of the nine key pillars in the FAS Strategic Plan is to increase participation in football at the grassroots and community levels to raise the profile of women's football.

With the appointment of Mohamad Hisham Roslan, the new head coach for our women's national team, who is committed to this objective, we are moving in the right direction in this aspect.

The women's national team recently went on a training tour to Bangkok as part of a comprehensive plan to further develop women's football here, and we can look forward to more of such activities in the near future.

Alvin Tham
Assistant Director (Marketing and Corporate Communications)
Football Association of Singapore/S-League

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