Catch Lion City Sailors take on Tottenham Hotspur and more in the Singapore Festival of Football

TOTTENHAM Hotspur will face a new opponent in their upcoming pre-season friendly at the National Stadium. The North London team will now challenge Singapore Premier League (SPL) Club Lion City Sailors for the Tiger Cup trophy after AS Roma announced that they will not be proceeding with their pre-season tour. Spurs last visited Singapore in 2019 when skipper Harry Kane scored a stoppage time winner from the halfway line to beat Juventus 3-2 in a pre-season friendly. Lion City Sailors are the latest addition to the inaugural Singapore Festival of Football (SFOF) after Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester City and Bayern Munich confirmed their participation earlier. The SPL club made headlines just earlier this week when it announced the signings of former Ajax forward Richairo Zivkovic and ex-Sunderland defender Bailey Wright.

Geoff Jones, group CEO of TEG Sport which is organising SFOF, said: “We are pleased to confirm that the Lion City Sailors will play in the Tiger Cup… With a home-grown team taking on a top English Premier League club, this event is set to be a grand showcase of the sport featuring a unique blend of local and foreign playing styles.”

Sailors’ chairman, Forrest Li, noted that “playing against a top team such as Spurs will provide us an opportunity to better prepare for the rigours of the AFC Champions League” in which the team will go up against some of Asia’s best football clubs.

He added: “Spurs are a well-supported club in Singapore, and we expect many of their fans to turn up. We hope the match will provide Spurs fans with an exposure to local football, and spark some interest in our local football league.”

Donna-Maria Cullen, executive director of Tottenham Hotspur, said the team is excited to be returning to Singapore after their last visit in 2019. “The game against the Lion City Sailors will be a great experience for our fans to see us play against Singapore’s leading club side in the National Stadium,” she said.

Lion City Sailors is the latest addition to SFOF after Spurs, Liverpool, Leicester City and Bayern Munich confirmed their participation earlier. The week-long festival celebration kicks off on Jul 25 with Spurs conducting an open training session at the National Stadium before the Tiger Cup clash with Lion City Sailors the next day.

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Liverpool will then hold their own open training session on Jul 29 before defending their Standard Chartered Singapore Trophy – which they won after beating Crystal Palace last year – against Leicester City on Jul 30.

SFOF will close with a blockbuster contest between Liverpool and Bayern Munich on Aug 2 as both teams vie for the Singapore Trophy, presented by Audi and Standard Chartered.

The Business Times is giving away four pairs of Silver Tickets (worth $149 each / $298 per pair) to the Tiger Cup game (Tottenham Hotspur vs Lion City Sailors) on Jul 26 at the National Stadium. For your chance to win a pair, click here. Key in the promo code BTSUB (under the Unlock Tickets tab) to get 20 per cent off all matches and 50 per cent off official training sessions when purchasing additional tickets from Ticketek.