Despite having a National Stadium which has been dubbed as the Home of the Singapore Lions, Singapore will play BOTH of its home group stage matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium on 24 and 30 December against Myanmar and Vietnam respectively.
The information was made public after the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) made its ticket sales details public on 29 November on its website.
The Jalan Besar Stadium has a capacity of just 6,000 while the National Stadium can house 55,000 fans.
“While the start date of the competition was earlier expected to be in January 2023, the finalised match dates mean the National Stadium is unable to host the group stage games as the venue has committed to other events,” said the FAS on its website.
“The National Stadium, originally booked for all matches in the month of January 2023, will be the venue for the home legs of the semi-finals and finals for the Lions should they progress accordingly in this tournament,” the statement added.
The one major event happening at the National Stadium in December 2022 are the concerts by Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou, who will sway audiences on 17 and 18 December.
It will take at least another week or more for the venue to be prepared for a sports event, given that the turf will need to be laid after the concerts.
The Lions will face off against Laos and Malaysia in the other Group B fixtures on 27 December 2022 and 3 January 2023 respectively.
“The National Stadium, originally booked for all matches in the month of January 2023, will be the venue for the home legs of the semi-finals and finals for the Lions should they progress accordingly in this tournament,” added the FAS.
In addition, there will be a friendly tie against Maldives on 17 December at the Jalan Besar Stadium.
MAIN PHOTO: FAS