The National Stadium will not be the home of the Singapore Lions if they qualify for the ASEAN Football Federation (FF) Mitsubishi Electric Cup which begins in December.
In an announcement made by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on 4 November, it said that should the Lions qualify for the semi-finals and final, the matches will be “played at an alternative venue”.
It is not known which alternative venue the FAS was referring to but the options available are just the Jalan Besar Stadium or Bishan Stadium.
The announcement once again will bring to the fore the argument about the conflicting needs of the National Stadium.
In 2022, the Lions had to play their group matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium as the National Stadium had been booked for concerts.
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BLAME IT ON ASEAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
The FAS further explained that the AFF Cup was originally due to run from 23 November 2024 to 21 December 2024.
However, the AFF changed the schedule as the earlier schedule clashed with the Asian Football Confederation Champions League 2 tournament, which both Lion City Sailors and Tampines Rovers were involved in.
“The National Stadium had been booked for the full duration of the tournament based on the original dates,” said the FAS.
The FAS said that two other major events were confirmed for the final week of December 2024 and in early January 2025 before AFF announced the new dates in August (8 December 2024 – 5 January 2025).
These events include Mayday’s concerts in January where tickets have been on sale since July 2024 and another major concert that will be announced this week, said the FAS.
It added that after being “made aware of the new ME Cup dates”, venue partner Kallang Alive Sport Management made every effort to deconflict schedules at late notice but “were not able to reschedule these major events as lead time is needed for pitch preparation and set-up between events”.
In 2014, former national defender Baihakki Khaizan slammed the management of the National Stadium, lamenting that it was a “stadium for concerts”.
MAIN PHOTO: FAS