SINGAPORE: The Singapore men's under-22 football team has been left out of the provisional list for the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand, along with distance runner Soh Rui Yong. 

Singapore has always sent a men's football team to the SEA Games since its inception in 1977.

The players' names were not on the list released by the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) on Wednesday (Aug 6).

On Soh's exclusion from the list, SNOC said in a media release that the selection committee has not supported his nomination "at this stage".

"The SNOC has been in dialogue with Singapore Athletics regarding his nomination, and should Singapore Athletics choose to resubmit it, the SNOC will review the nomination through its Appeals Committee in due course," it said.

SNOC added that it reaffirms its commitment to sending athletes who "not only meet the performance benchmarks but also uphold the values and behaviours expected of Singapore’s national representatives".

The 33rd SEA Games will be held from Dec 9 to 20.

A total of 762 athletes across 42 sports have been provisionally selected to represent the country. This is the largest contingent for Singapore, partly due to the number of sports selected by the hosts, said SNOC.

Some athletes and teams remain under consideration, as they work towards meeting the required benchmarks, said SNOC.

"For some events, the national sports associations (NSAs) will make the selection and decide on the final composition of their team from the pre-qualified athletes.

"Some NSAs are awaiting the results of the impending matches that have just missed the deadline," it added.

"NSAs intending to appeal for athletes not selected in this first phase must do so by Friday, Aug 15, 2025, via the established appeals process."

The men's football team struggled at the last SEA Games in 2023, finishing with a draw and three losses – the worst of which was a 7-0 drubbing by Malaysia.

That was Singapore's heaviest defeat at the Games since the competition became an age-group affair in 2001. It has been over a decade since the team made it out of the group stages.

The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) subsequently unveiled 10 recommendations to improve the country's performance at future Games, including giving young players more game time in the Singapore Premier League. 

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, the new Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president Forrest Li noted that it was a provisional list for the SEA Games.

He said he would work with the SNOC and its selection committee to try and get the men's team to the 2025 Games.

"We need to give our young players a proper platform and the SEA Games is a great platform to really play against your regional teams," Mr Li added.

"We understand there could be certain concerns, because our team didn't do well last SEA Games ... but I think from the FAS perspective we'll try all we can do."

Soh was left out of the last SEA Games squad in 2023 but was eventually included after a successful appeal.

His participation at the Phnom Penh Games marked the end of a more than five-year absence from major games following several clashes with SNOC.

Soh competed in the 5,000m and 10,000m events in Cambodia. He took fourth in the 5,000m and set a national record in the 10,000m, claiming silver.

However, after returning to the national fold for the SEA Games, Soh was left out of the Singapore contingent for the Hangzhou Asian Games and not included in the SNOC’s list of successful appeals.

Additional reporting by Matthew Mohan.