Football Association of Singapore

History

The association was also previously known as the Singapore Amateur Football Association (abbreviation: SAFA) on 14 May 1929 before adopting its current name on 13 January 1966.

The FAS council was first appointed by the government in 1968, and has been controlled continually by government appointees for more than three decades from the 1980s to 2015. From 2004 to 2015, its president had been an elected member of the ruling People's Action Party, and was appointed by the Minister for Sports.

In 2015, FIFA requested an end to political appointments of the national body's council members. FAS therefore changed its constitution in 2016 and held general elections for its council members starting from 2017. In response, the FAS also stated that "We have always been in consultation with FIFA over the last 30 years. They are aware of the uniqueness of our situation, and have always given us special dispensation."

As a result in the change of constitution, FAS, on the request of FIFA and its past presidents, held its first election for the FAS council. The election was contested by two teams led by Lim Kia Tong, FAS provisional council president, and Bill Ng, chairman of Hougang United and NFL side, Tiong Bahru FC. The election was held on 29 April 2017 and Lim won the elections.

Youth development programmes

National Football Academy

The National Football Academy, commonly referred to as NFA, is a football academy launched by the FAS on 13 August 2000 with the aim of developing Singapore's most promising young footballers. Trainees are scouted through a systematic talent identification process before being given the chance to develop their skills under some of the best youth coaches in the country. With teams at every age level from under 14 to under 18, the NFA co-ordinates the development of young Singaporean footballers at a national level through the domestic league system, international youth tournaments as well as overseas training attachments.

The NFA Under-18 team is made up of promising Singaporean players under the age of 18 and serves as a feeder squad mainly to the Young Lions as well as other clubs in the Singapore Premier League. The FAS enters both the NFA Blues U17 and NFA Reds U18 teams in the Prime League, the official reserve league of the Singapore Premier League, to allow their players to gain more exposure and match experience by playing against older and more established players. The NFA U15 and U16 teams also participate in the annual Lion City Cup organised by the FAS since 2011.

The FAS focuses on football development and operates national age group programmes with U15, U16, U17, U18 and U23 teams (known as Young Lions, who compete in the country's professional Singapore Premier League). All Singapore Premier League clubs have also fully implemented their own programmes for the under-14s, adding on to the existing U-16s and U-18s program.

Singapore Sports School

Singapore Sports School’s Football Academy focuses on holistic development of student-athletes and strives to provide a comprehensive football development programme consisting of local and overseas exposures through competitions and training exchanges. SSS recently extended their training base to Europe so as to expose the student-athletes to different playing styles and experiences. Their collaboration with a sports school in Berlin in Olympiapark provides the student-athletes the opportunity to be attached to Bundesliga club Hertha BSC. The knowledge and experience gained from such attachments with youth players in a world-class youth development setup is second to none. SSS is currently being coached by Singapore icon Isa Halim and also Hafis Abu Sujad.

Unleash The Roar!

On 9 March 2021, Singapore launched a national football project called Unleash the Roar!, in line with the goal set by the FAS to qualify for the 2034 FIFA World Cup which garnered both praise and criticism from the football fraternity that failed the Goal 2010 project that was first mooted in 1998. Since the start of the project, a total of 12 school football academies have been established, of which two have dedicated programmes for girls. Unleash the Roar! aims to rally Singaporeans, inspire the next generation to create a safe, disciplined and professional sporting ecosystem. This project will provide talented Singaporeans a shot at a professional career at the highest levels of the sport and raise the bar for Singapore’s national football teams. This vision of Unleash the Roar! is based on involvement of government agencies including the Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth (MCCY) and the Ministry of Education (MOE), alongside Sport Singapore (SportSG), FAS, the football fraternity, corporate Singapore, and Singaporeans.

In 2025, former national footballer, Kadir Yahaya was appointed as director of football.

Singapore Youth League

On 6 February 2024, in a boost for large-scale talent development and identification, Singapore Youth League (SYL) was officially launched. The league, an initiative under the Unleash the Roar!, is Singapore’s inaugural nation-wide elite youth football competition and is set to feature over 200 registered teams from 52 clubs and academies across various age groups.

JSSL

Junior Soccer School and League Singapore, better known as JSSL Singapore, is a privately owned youth soccer academy which runs regular league tournaments and also provides professional coaching for competitive pathway development. It is also known as the largest youth football tournament in Asia with more than 450 teams and 6,000 players.

Investments

During the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in September 2016, it was revealed that organising expenses on grassroots competitions like the National Football League (NFL), Island Wide League (IWL) and FA Cup amounted to about S$70,000 during the previous financial year from April 2015 to March 2016. This figure which represented a mere 0.2 per cent of the FAS' total annual budget of $35.8 million sparked disapproval within the local football community with many perceiving it as FAS's lack of regard for grassroots football.

In a press conference on 13 October 2016, FAS vice-president Bernard Tan clarified that the amount did not include prize money and participation fees contributed by the teams counted under the domestic league account.

Funding

In early April 2017, Bill Ng, chairman of SPL club Hougang United and NFL club Tiong Bahru Football Club (TBFC), claimed that he had donated S$850,000 to the FAS with the intention of helping Singapore football, but that the money had gone to the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) instead. The allegations came in the prelude to the first open election of the FAS council.

FAS secretary Winston Lee responded that Ng was aware of where the funds were used, that $200,000 went to the former LionsXII, while $500,000 was used to support the AFF's Football Management System. Lee said that it was former FAS president Zainudin Nordin who asked Ng to donate to the AFF, while Ng disputed the claim. FAS responded with a statement that Ng's allegations of financial impropriety within FAS to damage the credibility of the association was regrettable, and it was unusual that Ng had chosen to hide Zainudin's role in the transaction.

On 20 April 2017, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) raided the FAS headquarters over alleged financial misuse of funds filed by Sport Singapore (formerly known as the Singapore Sports Council). Zainudin Nordin, Winston Lee, Bill Ng and his wife Bonnie Wong, were all arrested before being subsequently released on bail. The four assisted with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) with the probe into the alleged misuse of funds and obstruction of club audits of TBFC. In September 2021, the CAD in accordance with the Attorney-General announced that they had concluded their investigations and that the individuals involved will not face charges.

Former presidents

• Soh Ghee Soon: 1957–1963
• Hussein Kumari: 1963–1965
• Abu Bakar Pawanchee: 1965–1967
• Tay Soo Yong: 1967–1968
• Woon Wah Siang: 1968
• Lenny Rodrigo: 1968–1971
• NSPB / SSC: 1971–1974The FAS was under the management of the National Sports Promotion Board and later, the Singapore Sports Council.
• R.B.I. Pates: 1974–1976
• N. Ganesan: 1976–1982
• Teo Chong Tee: 1982–1988
• Abbas Abu Amin: 1988–1991
• Hsu Tse-Kwang: 1991–1994
• Ibrahim Othman: 1994–1999
• Mah Bow Tan: 1999–2004
• Ho Peng Kee: 2004–2009
• Zainudin Nordin: 2009–2016
• Lim Kia Tong: 2017–2022
• Bernard Tan: 2022–2025(interim)
• Forrest Li: 2025–present

Council members

Council member from 2025–2029.

List of collaborations

Club and association collaboration

• JPN Japan Football Association (2011–present)
• ESP LALIGA (2015–present)
• FRA French Football Federation (2022–present)
• JPN Tokyo Verdy (2024–present)
• JPN Ventforet Kofu (2024–present)
• Qatar Aspire Academy (2025–present)

Regional collaborations

• Johor Johor Football Association (2023–present)
• THA BG Pathum United (2024–present)

Former collaborations

• SAU Saudi Arabian Football Federation (2022–2024)

With FAS and JFA signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), the Singapore national team also sees themselves playing a couple of friendly against Japanese club in Japan as part of their preparation for the 2024 ASEAN Championship. While the Coach Overseas Attachment (COA) programme, an initiative by the Unleash The Roar will see Singapore coaches immersed in the day-to-day dealings of first-team training. In May 2024, Isa Halim and Noh Alam Shah was sent to Tokyo Verdy on a training stint. Following successful stints by Singaporean former national icons, in January 2025, Ratna Suffian and Miur Rafik Taha was sent to Tokyo Verdy on a coaching attachment, while Young Lions coach Nazri Nasir joined another J2 League club Ventforet Kofu as the club assistant coach assisting head coach Shinji Otsuka for the 2025 season.

While LALIGA also send a couple of team to compete in the JSSL 7's in Singapore with the likes of Valencia, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal. In 2022, 14-years old footballer Denzel Ari Thrumurgan is set to be the first Singaporean to train and study at the LaLiga Academy in Madrid In 2023, 17-years old Loo Kai Sheng and 16-years old Uchenna Eziakor won the recipient to be send to LaLiga Academy.

FAS tournaments

• Singapore Premier League
• FAS National Football League (2 divisions)
• FAS Island Wide League
• Women's Premier League
• FAS Women's National League

List of top division clubs

A total of 25 clubs have played in the league from its inception in 1996 up to and including the 2024–25 season. The following 9 clubs are competing in the league during the 2023 season. There are two non-Singaporean clubs that currently compete in the Singapore Premier League – Albirex Niigata (S) is a satellite team of the Japanese club of the same name

Former clubs

Years indicates seasons active in the league.

Notes

References

References

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