Adam won the Dollah Kassim award in 2011 which got him a overseas training stints with English Premier League side, Newcastle United Academy.

In 2011, during the 23rd edition of the Lion City Cup in Singapore, Adam captained the NFA Under-15 team to 3rd place with victories over Newcastle U-15 and Juventus U-15.

[6] In March 2012, Adam was chosen along with Muhaimin Suhaimi and four other students at the Singapore Sports School to undergo a ten-day training camp with the youth team of J.League club, Albirex Niigata.

[7] Adam was the only one called back for a longer training session in August the same year as their U-18 head coach, Nobuhiro Ueno was reportedly impressed by his control and one-touch passing, saying it was better than some of the players at the club's academy.

[8] On 23 February 2013, Adam signed a two-year contract with Ligue 2 club, FC Metz, joining their Under-19 set-up in the Championnat National youth competitions.

[9] He had impressed the staff and coaches during his 10-day stint at Metz following his 45-day European tour which includes training spells at illustrious clubs such as Newcastle United, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid.

Adam Swandi was nominally included in the 24-man Courts Young Lions squad which travelled to Turkey for a series of friendly matches in January 2014.

[24] [25] Adam made his first international appearance aged 17 years and 143 days when he came on as a second-half substitute in place of Indra Sahdan in the friendly against Myanmar on 4 June 2013.

[26] Adam earned his first recall into the national team in September 2015 in head coach Bernd Stange's 23-strong Singapore squad to take on Syria in their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications but failed to make an appearance.

[20] In September 2024, after being hospitalised at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital for being unwell, Adam consulted a private cardiologist and was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.