Both parties aim to share playing and technical expertise to help develop football as part of three-year agreement

 

FAS President Mr Lim Kia Tong and JFA President Mr Kohzo Tashima, 1 April 2022

 

SINGAPORE, 1 APRIL 2022 – The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Japan Football Association (JFA) to collaborate with each other in order to further the development of football in each country.

 

The three-year agreement is the latest milestone in a warm working relationship with the JFA that dates back to April 2011, when the first such MoU was signed. It was renewed in February 2015 and ran for six years; with this third renewal, the ties between both associations are strengthened further.

 

The signing ceremony took place earlier today in Doha, Qatar at the Four Seasons Hotel ahead of the Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022^TM. FAS President, Mr Lim Kia Tong and his JFA counterpart, Mr Kohzo Tashima put pen to paper as FAS General Secretary, Mr Yazeen Buhari and JFA General Secretary and CEO, Mr Kiyotaka Suhara, bore witness. FAS Vice President, Mr Ben Teng and JFA Executive Committee Member, Mr Tsuneyasu Miyamoto were also in attendance.

 

L-R: FAS Vice President Ben Teng, General Secretary Yazeen Buhari, President Lim Kia Tong, JFA President Kohzo Tashima, General Secretary Kiyotaka Suhara, Executive Committee Member Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, 1 April 2022

 

The latest iteration of the MoU will incorporate the aims and objectives of the Unleash the Roar! (UTR) project in order to elevate the standards of Singapore football across all levels through a structured football development system. Both the FAS and JFA will continue to commit to a high level of cooperation, where resources, expertise and information will be mutually exchanged. The MoU covers a range of areas for collaboration, with the main ones being: school programmes, coach education, exchange and attachment programmes, and friendly and/or international matches at both youth and senior levels. Other areas of expertise that both parties will look to explore to mutual benefit are football science and medicine, referee education, football administration and commercial and business opportunities.

 

 

FAS President, Mr Lim Kia Tong, said: “We are delighted to be able to continue our longstanding relationship with the JFA, which started almost 11 years ago, with this latest MoU renewal. Since we started our collaboration, we have had coaching placements, education courses, players’ training and match initiatives take place, as well as several Japanese coaches come over to work within the Singapore youth system. Of course, the JFA had also played a part in the appointment of our previous Lions head coach, Tatsuma Yoshida, thanks to the recommendation from my good friend and JFA President, Mr Kohzo Tashima.

 

“The FAS has been engaged in an ongoing conversation with the JFA to renew this MoU since the previous iteration expired in early 2021, and we are confident that this latest partnership will see us work more extensively and closely together than ever before in order to help uplift the sport in both countries.”

 

JFA President, Mr Kohzo Tashima, said: “It is with great pleasure that we renew our partnership MoU between FAS and JFA this time. The FAS has been one of our closest friends in the football family and we would like to work closely together through football exchanges for further development of football in both countries and in Asia as a whole.”

 

 

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE