Singapore’s Under-15 boys will play five matches in three days at the first FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival in Baku, Azerbaijan, opening against Guatemala on Saturday 24 October. The Football Association of Singapore confirmed the trip and the fixtures on 12 October.
Five games in three days
Singapore are in Group P with Guatemala, Honduras, Canada, Guinea and American Samoa. All five matches are at the Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku, and kick-off times are in Singapore time.
- Saturday 24 October: Singapore v Guatemala, 3.30pm
- Sunday 25 October: Honduras v Singapore, 2.15pm
- Sunday 25 October: Singapore v Canada, 9pm
- Monday 26 October: Guinea v Singapore, 1pm
- Monday 26 October: Singapore v American Samoa, 7.45pm
How the format works
FIFA has built the tournament around game time rather than knockouts. Matches are eight-a-side, with two 20-minute halves, and 191 member associations are taking part.
Every team plays four or five round-robin games in a qualification stage, and those results sort them into six tiers for a tournament stage of another four or five matches. Teams keep playing until the final matchday, and each tier crowns its own winner. The Tier A winner is the first FIFA U-15 world champion.
Most games are at the purpose-built Hovsan complex, while the opening match and the tier finals are at Baku’s Crystal Hall. The tournament runs from 24 to 30 October.
The squad
Players must be born in 2011 or 2012, and each country can register 14 players and up to six staff. This first edition is for boys; a girls’ edition follows in 2027, and from 2028 boys’ and girls’ U-15 teams will play in separate competitions.
The trip comes after Singapore’s Under-16 girls missed out on the AFC Under-17 Women’s Asian Cup finals with a 5-0 defeat by Indonesia at Bishan Stadium on 11 October.
Head coach Ashraf Ariffin leads the boys, and FAS will name the 14-player squad later.
