The Lion City Sailors will help fly the Singapore flag at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers in June. 

Lions’ captain Hariss Harun will be joined by 11 of his Sailors’ teammates – Hassan Sunny, Amirul Adli, Iqram Rifqi, Nur Adam Abdullah, Shahdan Sulaiman, Adam Swandi, Hafiz Nor, Song Ui-young, Saifullah Akbar, Faris Ramli and Gabriel Quak – in new national team coach Takayuki Nishigaya’s first national squad.  

The 27-strong squad will come together on Wednesday (25 May) for centralised training before flying to Abu Dhabi for a friendly with Kuwait. The Lions will then travel to the Kyrgyz Republic on 2 June where they will face the hosts, Tajikistan, and Myanmar in Group F of the qualifiers.

The six group winners and five best second-placed teams will advance to the 2023 Finals. 

Singapore are looking to qualify for the Finals for the first time in the country’s history. The Lions’ sole appearance came in 1984 as hosts.

The Sailors go into Lions’ camp in good form, winning all three Singapore Premier League matches – a 4-3 win over Hougang United, 1-0 victory over Geylang International and a 4-0 thumping of Tampines Rovers – since returning from their AFC Champions League (ACL) campaign in Buriram, and will look to bring the same levels of performance to the national team. 

The Lions leave for Abu Dhabi on Sunday (29 May).

Sailors in the Lions squad for the Asian Cup Qualifiers: 

Hassan Sunny, Hariss Harun, Amirul Adli, Iqram Rifqi, Nur Adam Abdullah, Shahdan Sulaiman, Adam Swandi, Hafiz Nor, Song Ui-young, Saifullah Akbar, Faris Ramli, Gabriel Quak