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Lars Hamer

Chinese football fans have flooded social media with praise for group rivals Singapore after their 3-1 loss to Thailand kept the men’s side in with a chance of qualifying for the Fifa 2026 World Cup.
Despite losing 1-0 to South Korea in the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Tuesday night, China made it through to the next round of qualification because Thailand failed to beat Singapore at home by three goals.
One hero on the night was Singapore’s goalkeeper, Hassan Sunny.
“I suggest that this year’s Chinese Footballer of the Year award be given to Singapore goalkeeper Sunny,” a post with more than 1.7 million likes said.
Hassan saw a total of 35 shots fired at him, 13 of which were on target. The keeper also got down low in the 88th minute to stop the ball from sneaking inside his near post.


“The whole Chinese team should give a deep bow to the Singaporean goalkeeper who got a yellow card for delaying the game in the last minute,” one Weibo user commented.
Singapore’s 40-year-old Hassan, who owns a Muslim food restaurant, has also witnessed a boom in business as Chinese people flock to his store, with others spamming online reviews with five stars.
“There’s no way I’m not stopping in at this guy’s restaurant next time I’m in Singapore,” said one Weibo comment.
Another player who got a lot of love was Singapore’s goal scorer, Ikhsan Fandi.
Chinese fans swarmed the striker’s Instagram, commenting that he was the “saviour of Chinese football” and calling for him to join the Chinese Super League (CSL).
One hashtag on Weibo that has been viewed more than 15 million times showed that searches for trips to Singapore from the mainland had increased by five times by Tuesday night.
However, other fans saw the funny side of China losing but somehow still making it through to the third round of World Cup qualification.

🇸🇬⚽️👑
Ikhsan Fandi scored a goal for Singapore in the match between Thailand 3-1 Singapore. His Instagram was flooded with messages from Chinese fans. The one with the most likes read: "Everyone has a football king in his heart. Mine is Fandi." 😂 pic.twitter.com/noM6xvUBa0
— HOTPOT FOOTBALL (@HotpotFootball) June 11, 2024

“My life is in God’s hands, not mine. It’s better to rely on others than on yourself,” one Weibo user wrote.
China have qualified for the World Cup on only one occasion, when the tournament was held in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
They are now one of 18 teams to make it to the third round and will be put into one of the three groups of six teams.
The top two teams from each group qualify directly for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026.
The third and fourth-placed teams advance to the fourth round.


In a previous version, it stated China had progressed on away goals when it was in fact on a head-to-head record


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Singapore goalkeeper Hassan Sunny has been praised for his heroic performance against Thailand by Chinese football fans. Photo: EPA

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China

Thailand’s failure to beat Singapore by three goals allowed China to sneak through on head-to-head results despite 1-0 loss to South Korea


Thailand’s failure to beat Singapore by three goals allowed China to sneak through to next round of the 2026 qualifiers on head-to-head results despite losing 1-0 to South Korea.


Fifa World Cup 2026