Focus remains the same, says Lions skipper Hariss, as Asian Cup campaign postponed to Dec 2027

Lions captain Hariss Harun, seen here saluting fans after a 1-0 win over Bangladesh in March 2026, said the postponement “was expected”.

Published Nov 03, 2026, 02:16 PM

Updated Nov 03, 2026, 11:18 PM

The AFC has postponed the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia by 11 months to Dec 23, 2027, to Jan 21, 2028, because of “substantial logistical complexities and travel disruptions”.

Singapore’s Lions, who qualified unbeaten for the first time in 2025, will now have to wait longer. Hariss Harun said the delay was “expected” and that “the focus remains the same”.

The change disrupts fan travel and team planning. FAS and coach Gavin Lee must rethink squad preparation, as many key players will be older and the team may need more young players.

SINGAPORE – The Lions’ much-anticipated Asian Cup campaign will be delayed, following the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) confirmation on Nov 3 that the 2027 tournament will be pushed back to December amid escalating security concerns in Saudi Arabia.

The tournament is now scheduled to run from Dec 23, 2027, to Jan 21, 2028.

The 24-team continental football championship had been scheduled for Jan 5 to Feb 7 in Saudi cities Jeddah, Riyadh and Al Khobar.

In a media statement, AFC said that the decision was taken following extensive discussions and close consultation with the tournament’s local organising committee and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

It added that the postponement was made “in the light of the current exceptional circumstances arising from developments in the region, including substantial logistical complexities and travel disruptions”, and said that the new dates will be presented to world body FIFA for approval.

Singapore made history when they qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time with a 2-1 win over Hong Kong in November 2025. They ended their qualification campaign unbeaten with four wins and two draws after home and away matches against Hong Kong, India and Bangladesh.

The Lions were later drawn with heavyweights Australia and Iraq, and Tajikistan in Group D for the tournament.

Lions captain Hariss Harun said the tournament was something that the team were looking forward to, but added that the postponement “was expected”.

“Now we need to see the best way to prepare,” he said. “We have more time but the focus remains the same.”

Houthis intensify attacks on Saudi Arabia

There were serious concerns over the staging of Asia’s premier football tournament in Saudi Arabia after the kingdom came under sustained attack in recent weeks in a dramatic escalation of the conflict with the Iran-backed Houthi group, an armed political and religious group from northern Yemen.

The Houthis have targeted airports, ports and oil facilities with ballistic missiles and drones.

The King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the kingdom’s second-busiest after Jeddah, has been struck repeatedly, including an attack on Oct 10 that killed at least 13 people, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.

Three matches in Saudi domestic football, including one involving Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, were postponed in October, while the exhibition Six Kings Slam tennis tournament, originally scheduled for October and due to include Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev, was pushed back to the end of December.

Five of the 2027 Asian Cup’s eight venues are in Riyadh. In total, 31 matches including the final were scheduled to be held in the Saudi capital.

Singapore were scheduled to kick off their campaign on Jan 9 against Australia at the Aramco Stadium in Khobar. They would then face Tajikistan on Jan 14 at the Imam Mohammed Ibn Saud University Stadium in Riyadh before a final group game against Iraq on Jan 19 back at the Aramco venue.

The top two teams from each of the six groups and the four best third-place sides will qualify for the knockout stage.

The postponement will also throw a spanner in the works for Lions fans who had already made plans to support the team in person.

Faris Kassim, for example, has booked flights, accommodation and tickets for all the Lions’ group stage matches. Faris, an interactive designer, said he spent between $2,500 and $3,000, and he plans to cancel the flight and accommodation bookings and is confident that he will be able to get partial refunds for the flight and full refunds for the accommodation.

While he said the postponement was “kind of expected”, he had been “holding out hope” it would have gone on as scheduled.

The attacks in Saudi Arabia have also wreaked havoc on air travel. Singapore Airlines (SIA) postponed the launch of its services to Riyadh until March 28 and had extended the cancellation of its flights between Singapore and Dubai to February 2027.

Flights SQ494 (Singapore to Dubai) and SQ495 (Dubai to Singapore) have been cancelled until Feb 28, 2027, owing to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the national carrier said in an advisory posted on Facebook on Oct 30.

The latest extension followed earlier suspensions of the flights, which SIA previously operated daily.

Scoot, the budget arm of SIA, also extended the cancellation of its flights between Singapore and Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah to February 2027.

Flights TR796 (Singapore to Jeddah) and TR797 (Jeddah to Singapore) will be suspended until Feb 28, owing to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the airline said in an advisory on Nov 2. This latest extension followed the Scoot’s earlier suspensions of the thrice-weekly service to the Saudi Arabian city.

How postponement affects the Lions, FAS

Head coach Gavin Lee’s contract ends in mid-2027, and it will need to be reassessed by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) to determine if he is still the one to lead the Lions to the tournament.

Right now, both Lee and his coaching staff will need to redraw their plans for the Lions.

Singapore, who will face Paraguay on Nov 13 and Brazil on Nov 17 at The Kallang’s National Stadium as part of preparations for the Asian Cup, relied on a core group of ageing warhorses during the historic qualification journey.

But, come December, captain Hariss, key forward Shawal Anuar and defensive stalwart Safuwan Baharudin will be 36, while goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud will be 37.

Naturalised midfield duo Kyoga Nakamura and Song Ui-young will be 31 and 34, respectively.

Noting this, Hariss said: “Obviously some of us wanted to play in the Asian Cup as soon as possible. The age factor... is not within my control.

“All I can do is to do my best to be in the best possible shape and, hopefully, I can contribute when the Asian Cup comes around.”

On the flipside, the Lions now have more time to regroup and prepare, having been handed a 6-0 thumping by arch-rivals Malaysia in their last match on Oct 1.

Left-back Nur Adam Abdullah will relish the chance to get back into the squad. The fan favourite was a mainstay in the side until he sustained a serious knee injury which made him a certainty to miss the original Asian Cup dates.

Said Faris: “(The postponement means) almost another year on the (veterans’) legs, and it may be harder for them to be at their physical peak by then.

“But for players like Nur Adam, hopefully the postponement gives him the time he needs to recover from his injury and get back to his best in time for the tournament.”

Meanwhile, the FAS will now need to relook its planning for the ongoing domestic Singapore Premier League (SPL) season.

It had not scheduled SPL matches in December 2026 and January 2027 due to the Asian Cup.

In response to queries, FAS general secretary Badri Ghent said that it is committed to ensuring that the Lions are well-prepared to compete at the rescheduled tournament.

“We will also work closely with the (Lions) staff, clubs and other affected stakeholders to manage the impact of the scheduling change and adjust our preparation plans accordingly,” said Badri, who added that the safety and well-being of the players, staff, officials and supporters was a top priority for FAS.

Singapore have featured in the Asian Cup just once, in 1984, when they did not need to qualify as hosts of what was then a 10-team tournament. They beat India 2-0, lost 2-0 to China and 1-0 to the United Arab Emirates, and drew 1-1 with Iran in the group stage, and failed to advance to the semi-finals.

Deepanraj Ganesan is a sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on football, athletics, combat sports and policy-related news.

AFC/Asian Football Confederation

FAS/Football Association of Singapore

狮队队长哈里斯·哈伦（图中为他在 2026 年 3 月 1-0 战胜孟加拉国后向球迷致意）表示，比赛延期“在意料之中”。

发布于 2026 年 11 月 3 日下午 2:16

更新于2026年11月3日晚上11:18

由于“后勤方面的诸多复杂问题和旅行中断”，亚足联将原定于2027年在沙特阿拉伯举行的亚洲杯推迟11个月，从2027年12月23日至2028年1月21日举行。

新加坡狮队首次以不败战绩晋级2025年世界杯，如今却不得不等待更长时间。哈里斯·哈伦表示，延期“在意料之中”，并强调“球队的目标不变”。

这一变化会扰乱球迷出行和球队的计划安排。由于许多主力球员年龄渐长，球队可能需要更多年轻球员，因此新加坡足协和主教练加文·李必须重新考虑球队的备战情况。

新加坡——由于沙特阿拉伯的安全问题日益严重，亚洲足球联合会（亚足联）于11月3日确认，2027年亚洲杯将推迟至12月举行，备受瞩目的狮队亚洲杯征程也将因此推迟。

该赛事目前计划于 2027 年 12 月 23 日至 2028 年 1 月 21 日举行。

这项由 24 支球队参加的洲际足球锦标赛原定于 1 月 5 日至 2 月 7 日在沙特阿拉伯的吉达、利雅得和胡拜尔三个城市举行。

亚足联在一份媒体声明中表示，该决定是在与赛事当地组委会和沙特阿拉伯足球联合会进行广泛讨论和密切磋商后做出的。

声明还表示，推迟比赛是“鉴于该地区当前形势的特殊性，包括严重的后勤复杂性和旅行中断”，并称新的比赛日期将提交给国际足联批准。

2025年11月，新加坡队以2比1战胜中国香港队，首次晋级亚洲杯，创造了历史。他们在主客场分别战胜中国香港队、印度队和孟加拉国队后，以四胜两平的战绩结束了预选赛征程，保持不败。

狮队后来与澳大利亚、伊拉克和塔吉克斯坦等强队分在了 D 组。

狮队队长哈里斯·哈伦表示，球队一直很期待参加这项赛事，但他补充说，比赛延期“也在意料之中”。

“现在我们需要找到最佳的备战方式，”他说。“我们有更多的时间，但重点仍然不变。”

胡塞武装加大对沙特阿拉伯的袭击力度

沙特阿拉伯王国最近几周持续遭受攻击，与伊朗支持的胡塞武装（也门北部的一个武装政治和宗教团体）的冲突急剧升级，因此人们对在沙特阿拉伯举办亚洲顶级足球赛事表示严重担忧。

胡塞武装使用弹道导弹和无人机袭击了机场、港口和石油设施。

利雅得的哈立德国王国际机场是沙特阿拉伯王国仅次于吉达的第二繁忙机场，曾多次遭到袭击，其中包括 10 月 10 日的袭击，造成至少 13 人死亡，这是沙特阿拉伯王国十多年来最致命的袭击。

10 月份，沙特阿拉伯国内足球联赛的三场比赛被推迟，其中包括克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多效力的阿尔纳斯尔队的一场比赛；而原定于 10 月份举行的六王网球表演赛，参赛选手包括诺瓦克·德约科维奇、卡洛斯·阿尔卡拉斯和亚历山大·兹维列夫，也被推迟到 12 月底。

2027年亚洲杯的八个比赛场地中有五个位于利雅得。包括决赛在内，总共有31场比赛计划在沙特首都举行。

新加坡队原定于1月9日在胡拜尔的阿美体育场迎战澳大利亚队，开启他们的征程。随后，他们将于1月14日在利雅得的伊玛目穆罕默德·伊本·沙特大学体育场对阵塔吉克斯坦队，最后一场小组赛将于1月19日回到阿美体育场对阵伊拉克队。

六个小组中每个小组的前两名以及四个成绩最好的小组第三名将晋级淘汰赛阶段。

比赛延期也会打乱已经计划好亲自到场支持雄狮队的球迷们的计划。

例如，法里斯·卡西姆已经预订了狮队所有小组赛的机票、住宿和门票。身为互动设计师的法里斯表示，他为此花费了2500到3000美元，他计划取消机票和住宿预订，并相信能够获得机票的部分退款和住宿的全额退款。

他表示，虽然延期“在意料之中”，但他一直“抱有希望”，希望比赛能够按计划进行。

沙特阿拉伯的袭击事件也对航空旅行造成了严重破坏。新加坡航空公司（新航）已将原定于3月28日开通的飞往利雅得的航线推迟，并将新加坡至迪拜航班的停飞期限延长至2027年2月。

由于中东地缘政治局势，新加坡国家航空公司在 10 月 30 日于 Facebook 上发布的公告中表示，SQ494（新加坡飞往迪拜）和 SQ495（迪拜飞往新加坡）航班已取消至 2027 年 2 月 28 日。

此次延期是在此前航班暂停之后做出的，新加坡航空此前每天都运营这些航班。

新加坡航空旗下廉价航空公司酷航也宣布，将新加坡与沙特阿拉伯吉达之间的航班取消期限延长至 2027 年 2 月。

酷航于11月2日发布公告称，由于中东地缘政治局势，TR796（新加坡飞往吉达）和TR797（吉达飞往新加坡）航班将暂停运营至2月28日。此前，酷航已暂停了每周三班飞往沙特阿拉伯吉达的航班。

延期对狮队和FAS的影响

主教练李嘉文的合同将于 2027 年年中到期，新加坡足球协会 (FAS) 将需要重新评估他的合同，以确定他是否仍是带领狮队参加该项赛事的最佳人选。

现在，李和他的教练团队都需要重新制定雄狮队的计划。

新加坡队将于 11 月 13 日在加冷国家体育场迎战巴拉圭队，11 月 17 日迎战巴西队，作为亚洲杯备战的一部分。在历史性的预选赛征程中，新加坡队依靠的是一批经验丰富的老将。

但是，到了 12 月，队长哈里斯、关键前锋沙瓦尔·阿努亚尔和防守坚定的萨福万·巴哈丁将年满 36 岁，而守门员伊兹万·马赫布德将年满 37 岁。

归化中场双星中村京贺和宋义荣将分别年满31岁和34岁。

哈里斯对此表示：“很显然，我们中的一些人希望尽快参加亚洲杯。年龄因素……不在我的控制范围之内。”

“我能做的就是尽我所能保持最佳状态，希望能在亚洲杯到来时做出贡献。”

另一方面，狮队现在有更多的时间重新集结和准备，因为他们在 10 月 1 日的上一场比赛中以 0-6 惨败于宿敌马来西亚队。

左后卫努尔·亚当·阿卜杜拉非常渴望重返国家队。这位深受球迷喜爱的球员此前一直是球队的主力，直到他遭遇严重的膝伤，这使他肯定会错过原定的亚洲杯赛程。

法里斯说：“（延期意味着）老兵们的腿又要再承受近一年的考验，到那时他们可能更难达到身体巅峰状态。

“但对于像努尔·亚当这样的球员来说，希望延期能给他足够的时间从伤病中恢复，并在比赛开始前恢复到最佳状态。”

与此同时，新加坡足协现在需要重新审视其正在进行的新加坡国内超级联赛（SPL）赛季的计划。

由于亚洲杯，新加坡超级联赛（SPL）在 2026 年 12 月和 2027 年 1 月没有安排比赛。

针对相关询问，FAS秘书长巴德里·根特表示，FAS致力于确保狮队做好充分准备，参加重新安排的比赛。

巴德里表示：“我们还将与（狮队）工作人员、俱乐部和其他受影响的利益相关者密切合作，以应对赛程变更的影响，并相应地调整我们的备战计划。”他还补充说，球员、工作人员、官员和支持者的安全和福祉是新加坡足协的首要任务。

新加坡只参加过一次亚洲杯，那是在1984年，当时作为东道主，他们无需参加资格赛，因为当时的亚洲杯是10支球队参加的赛事。他们在小组赛中以2-0击败印度，以0-2负于中国，以0-1负于阿联酋，并与伊朗1-1战平，但未能晋级半决赛。

Deepanraj Ganesan 是《海峡时报》的体育记者，主要报道足球、田径、格斗运动和政策相关新闻。

亚足联/亚洲足球联合会

新加坡足球总会