AFC Women’s Football Day 2021

SINGAPORE, 8 MARCH 2021 – Guest-of-Honour Denise Phua, the Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC (Kampong Glam), graced the AFC Women’s Football Day at the Jalan Besar Stadium. In a special segment of the event, she presented a national jersey to the newly appointed Head Coach, together with FAS President Lim Kia Tong.

An annual event that started in 2015, the AFC Women’s Football Day continued this year for the seventh year running despite the strict Covid-19 restrictions in place. To accommodate safe distancing measures, the event format was customised to suit the requirements of the maximum group gathering of eight individuals. As such, there were five different mini-tournaments featuring small groups of players of different age groups in two-versus-two, three-versus-three, and four-versus-four formats.

Held in conjunction with International Women’s Day, the event aims to involve individuals within the women’s football fraternity to foster a greater sense of inclusivity. Ahead of the upcoming season, it also served as a curtain-raiser where all age groups participated. In the first half of the day, girls from the Under-7, Under-10 and Under-12 categories took part in three respective mini tournaments with a winner emerging from each category.

In the mini tournaments for the Under-7, Under-10 and Under-12 categories, the respective winners were Team Olaf, Tinker Bell and M.T.S. Team Olaf is represented by Emma Yussof and Joanne Seet, Tinker Bell consists of Nur Aliyah Irdina, Amelia Tan Si Ling and Qsyaira Emelda while M.T.S. is represented by Mysha, Tyan and Syaizta.

Although the event concluded without the special mini-tournament for ex-internationals due to inclement weather, it capped off a significant day for women’s football as its main objective of celebrating women was met. The final segment of the day was the Mothers’ category, where some friendly competition took place between the mothers of the women football players.

Julie Teo, Head of Grassroots and Women’s Football at the FAS, said, “Since its inception in 2015, the FAS has supported the AFC Women’s Football Day in various ways to celebrate the women in football, whilst not forgetting our male champions who are advocates for the cause as well. We have had festivals and event forums in previous years but this year is especially significant as we commemorate it in the midst of a pandemic after almost a year devoid of football activity.

While we had to limit the participation numbers this year as a result, the strong enthusiasm and dedication shown by everyone who took part today clearly showed their passion and love for the game.”