The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced on Friday (Oct 24) a revised tournament format for the upcoming Singapore Cup 2025/26 that will culminate in a final on the re-turfed Jalan Besar Stadium on 10 January 2026.
The competition will feature seven teams this season, with the Young Lions sitting out this year’s edition of the Singapore Cup as they prepare for the 2025 SEA Games, which will be held in Thailand from December 3 to 18.
Competition format
As a result, the seven participating clubs were seeded based on their final positions in the 2024/25 Singapore Premier League (SPL) standings. The top two teams, Lion City Sailors and BG Tampines Rovers, also finalists of last season’s Singapore Cup, will advance directly to the semi-finals on sporting merit.
The remaining five teams will compete in a single round-robin group stage, with each club playing four matches. The top two teams from this stage will progress to the semi-finals, which will be played over two legs.
The group stage will take place from 1 November to 7 December, with a scheduled break between 10 and 18 November to accommodate the FIFA international window. During this period, the Men’s National Team will travel to Kai Tak Stadium to face Hong Kong, China in a crucial Group C AFC Asian Cup Qualifier.
The Singapore Cup semi-final first and second legs will be held on 14 and 20 December 2025, respectively, culminating in the Cup Final at the newly reopened Jalan Besar Stadium on 10 January 2026.
Compliance with AFC Regulations
An important consideration in FAS’s decision to revise the format was to comply with AFC’s Entry Regulations for Club Competitions, which require each club in all domestic top division leagues to play a minimum of 24 matches per season across both the domestic top division league and domestic cup campaigns.
The Sailors and the Stags will each play a minimum of 24 matches domestically (21 SPL fixtures, 2 Singapore Cup semi-final matches and 1 Community Shield match), while the remaining five clubs will play at least 25 matches (21 SPL fixtures and 4 Singapore Cup group matches), thus fulfilling the AFC requirement.
In line with efforts to enhance competitiveness and ensure alignment with AFC’s match requirements, there were also initial plans to invite a foreign club to participate in this year’s Singapore Cup – similar to BG Pathum United’s involvement in last season’s edition of the tournament. However, those plans were ultimately shelved due to scheduling and logistical constraints.
Singapore Cup matches will be broadcast ‘live’ on StarHub TV, Singtel TV and meWATCH. Fans can also watch Singapore Cup matches on the SPL’s official YouTube platform.
Tickets for the Singapore Cup 2025/26 will go on sale on Monday, 27 October via Trip.com.
