SINGAPORE – It could well be sayonara and konnichiwa for the national football team, who may be bidding farewell to coach Takayuki Nishigaya while welcoming another of his countrymen.

The ongoing search for Nishigaya’s replacement began before the second round of World Cup 2026 qualifiers in November, which kicked off with a 5-0 defeat by South Korea and a 3-1 loss to Thailand.

Sources have told The Straits Times that the Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) executive council has spoken to several candidates, some of whom have coached here.

They include Albirex Niigata coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga, who won a record fourth Singapore Premier League Coach of the Year gong last week.

At the FAS Awards Night on Nov 23, the 55-year-old told ST the post “is certainly something I would consider” if the opportunity arises.

Another familiar face is Englishman Alex Weaver, who led former SPL club Warriors FC to the 2014 league title.

He also coached Hougang United in 2013 and left Singapore after the 2015 season to become an academy manager at Swiss side Yverdon-Sport.

The 46-year-old then had stints at other Swiss clubs like Lausanne Sport, Grasshoppers and FC Basel, before returning to Yverdon as assistant coach in 2022. They were promoted to the top-tier Swiss Super League in 2023.

Weaver told ST: “Call me old-fashioned but I never like to talk about other coaches’ jobs when they are still in the job. I find that disrespectful.

“When results of a team are not going well, there will be names put about, and it’s normal that my name is mentioned, given my success in Singapore.

“What I’ve learnt from being in Europe and Singapore is there is a big ‘thinking’ problem in Singapore. It is so negative in that so many think Europe is another planet to Asia.

“Football actions are the same anywhere in the world and, with the right environment, Singapore players are capable of some very good things.”

There are also others with international pedigree on the shortlist.

The front runner for the job is understood to be 57-year-old Japanese Tsutomu Ogura, an assistant coach at Tokyo Verdy, who are third in the J2 League.

He was Japan’s assistant coach from 2006 to 2010 and was part of the Samurai Blue’s 2010 World Cup team who lost to Paraguay on penalties in the round of 16.

He was then appointed assistant coach of Japan’s Olympic team from 2010 to 2012, when they finished fourth in London.

Ogura is said to be more fluent in English than Nishigaya, whom some Lions feel does not inspire the team and is unable to “get his ideas and tactics across effectively” due to his poor command of the language. In training, he communicates mainly through assistant coach Koichiro Iizuka.

Another candidate is Park Hang-seo, the former Vietnam national coach who was also an assistant coach with South Korea and coach of their Under-23s.

According to reports from South Korea, Park – who won the 2018 Asean Football Federation Championship with Vietnam – is one of the candidates that the FAS had sounded out.

But owing to financial constraints, it will surely baulk at his salary demands, which should be close to the US$50,000 (S$66,900) a month he drew with Vietnam.

Former Manchester United and Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince – who had managerial spells with Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League and most recently Reading in the Championship – also had preliminary conversations with the FAS, although it is understood that those talks did not amount to anything.

It remains to be seen who will take over from Nishigaya, who despite a respectable record of eight wins, five draws and eight losses, has never quite won over the hearts of the local fans the way his predecessor Tatsuma Yoshida did.

This is in spite of the latter having an inferior record of six wins, three draws and 11 losses.

Speculation over who will fill the hot seat in Singapore football has mounted, particularly after the Lions’ loss to Thailand on Nov 21.

Nishigaya, who was hired on a two-year contract in April 2022, said post-match: “I don’t know if I will be in charge in March, but I’m fully committed if I am.”