SINGAPORE — Days after the Lions were eliminated from the AFF Suzuki Cup on Saturday (Dec 25), the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) announced that national team head coach Tatsuma Yoshida will end his contract early to head home to Japan to be with his family.

In a press release on Tuesday, the FAS said that Yoshida, 47, will be leaving the organisation on Dec 31 by "mutual agreement", more than two years after he was appointed to the position in June 2019. The contract had an extra year to run.

On Saturday at the National Stadium, the Lions suffered a 4-2 loss to Indonesia in the second leg of their semi-final of the Suzuki Cup, meaning their opponents achieved a 5-3 aggregate victory. 

It was the first time since 2012, when they last lifted the Suzuki Cup, that the Lions reached the semi-final of the biennial regional tournament.

The FAS said that it will commence with the search for a permanent replacement for Yoshida in January so that preparations can commence for the Lions’ third and final round of qualification for the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup China 2023 scheduled to take place in June 2022.

“This was not an easy decision for me to arrive to and a part of me wishes that I did not have to make it at all. The last two years have not been easy for me and my family given the travel restrictions that were in place as a result of the pandemic,” Yoshida said.

“Even though I will be returning to my family in Japan, I leave behind my second ‘family’ here with an extremely heavy heart. I have always trusted and had full confidence in these players, my boys, and I know they have the potential to be among the region’s best as long as they continue to believe in themselves.”

Last month, the FAS announced that its technical director, Mr Joseph Palatsides, would be leaving at the end of the year owing to health and personal reasons related to Covid-19.