Singapore coach shortlist - Cannavaro, Kewell and a Europa League winner among notable names: Reports

Ballon d’Or winner Fabio Cannavaro and a former Liverpool forward, Harry Kewell, are reportedly among the prominent names on the shortlist for the next head coach of Singapore’s men’s national football team.

According to Singaporean daily The Straits Times, over 60 people had applied for the men’s team head coach’s job, which included Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Cannavaro.

Cannavaro, regarded as one of the best centre-backs of all time, is one of the three defenders to win the Ballon d’Or, after Franz Beckenbauer and Matthias Sammer. He led Italy to the World Cup title in 2006 and won two La Liga titles with Real Madrid.

However, he has failed to reach the same heights as a coach and winning the Chinese Super League with Guangzhou Evergrande in 2019 remains his only major feat.

Coaching China remains his only national team assignment, while his last coaching stint was in Croatia, with Dinamo Zagreb, where he was sacked after just 14 matches as head coach.

Another name on the list is former winger Australian Kewell, who won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool in 2005.

A former head coach of Japanese side Yokahama Marinos, Kewell had also applied for the India coach job, where he could not make it to the final three-man shortlist.

Kewell had also been an assistant coach to former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou during his time at Celtic between 2022 and 2024.

Nick Montgomery, another of Postecoglou’s assistants — from Tottenham — is also on the list of applicants. Montgomery had won the A-League championship with Central Coast Mariners and the Europa League, as part of Spurs’ camp this year.

Other names reportedly on the shortlist include former Indonesia coach Luis Milla, former Iraq coach Jesus Casas and former manager of Thailand, Mano Polking, who had led the War Elephants to the 2020 and 2022 ASEAN Championship titles.

The men’s team coach spot has been empty since Tsutomu Ogura left the side, citing personal reasons, last month. Singapore, sitting atop Group C standings in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, plays India next in October, a side which will also be under a new head coach.

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