S.League
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The S.League is the top professional football (soccer) league in Singapore. Launched in 1996, the league currently involves 11 teams.
History
Prior to 1996, local soccer competitions were not the main attraction for football fans in Singapore. Since 1921, Singapore had been entering a representative side (nicknamed the "Lions") in the Malaysia Cup, and later also in the Malaysian League. Along with the state side from Selangor, Singapore was one of the two dominant forces in the Malaysian soccer scene for over 70 years. Thousands of fans packed stadiums home and away to watch the Lions team take on the best Malaysian sides.
In 1994, Singapore won the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup double. But that was to be its last year in the Malaysian competitions. The initial push to leave came at the beginning of 1995 when there was a dispute between the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) over the FAM's desire to impose a levy on the gate receipts of Malaysian League and Cup matches played in Singapore. Rather than accept the levy, the FAS decided that the time was right to withdraw from the Malaysian competitions and focus on building up a professional domestic league. It was hoped that this move would facilitate a wider development of the game and help find places for the involvement of a burgeoning population of players and coaches.
A task force was set up to develop plans for the new league, and Douglas Moore, who had been the coach of Singapore's 1994 Malaysian championship-winning side as well as the Singapore national football team, was brought in as the league's first Chief Executive.
The first S.League season was held in 1996. Eight teams were involved that year and the competition was split into two series. In each series, all eight teams played each other home and away. The table-topping teams from each of the two series then met each other in a season-ending play-off match to determine the champions. Geylang United won the first series and the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC) won the second. Geylang then beat SAFFC 2-1 in the final play-off to be crowned the first S.League champions. Geylang were captained in that first season by Singapore's best-known soccer star Fandi Ahmad (who also captained Singapore's last Malaysia Cup-winning side in 1994). The following year, Fandi moved to SAFFC and won the S.League title with them (and later went on to become their coach).
The format of two series and a season-ending play-off was replaced in 1997 by a more traditional league format. Since its first season, the S.League has grown to involve as many as 12 teams. 11 teams are competing in the 2006 competition. There is no promotion and relegation system. The clubs involved are chosen by the FAS, based on their past record and quality of management and organisation. In 2003, in an attempt to generate more excitement, penalty shoot-outs were held after all drawn games, with the winners taking 2 league points and the losers 1 point. This idea was dropped in 2004.
To help promote the development of top young players in Singapore, a team known as the Young Lions was introduced to the S.League in 2003, made-up largely of the members of the Singapore national under-23 team. The Young Lions team, which continues to be part of the S.League, is under the direct control of the FAS and its squad only includes players aged below 23. (Foreign players are normally only recriuted into the Young Lions squad if they could potentially change their nationality to Singaporean, and thus become eligible to play international football for Singapore at some point in the future.)
Three non-Singaporean teams have been involved in the S.League – Albirex Niigata FC (Singapore) (a satellite team of a top-level professional club in Japan), Sinchi FC (a team made up of players from China), and Sporting Afrique FC (which will be made up of players of African origin). Sinchi participated in the league for three years, before withdrawing after the 2005 season. Albirex Niigata and Sporting Afrique continue to be involved.
Past champions & runners-up
Top scorers
| Season | Top scorer | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Mirko Grabovac | Tampines Rovers FC |
| 2004 | Egmar Goncalves | Home United FC |
| 2003 | Peres De Oliveira | Home United FC |
| 2002 | Mirko Grabovac | Singapore Armed Forces Football Club |
| 2001 | Mirko Grabovac | Singapore Armed Forces Football Club |
| 2000 | Mirko Grabovac | Singapore Armed Forces Football Club |
| 1999 | Mirko Grabovac | Singapore Armed Forces Football Club |
| 1998 | Stuart Young | Home United FC |
| 1997 | Paulic Goran | Balestier Central FC |
| 1996 | Jure Eres | Singapore Armed Forces Football Club |
Current S.League clubs
- Albirex Niigata FC (Singapore)
- Balestier Khalsa FC
- Geylang United FC
- Gombak United FC
- Home United FC
- Sengkang Punggol FC
- Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC)
- Sporting Afrique FC
- Tampines Rovers FC
- Woodlands Wellington FC
- Young Lions (FAS under-23 team)
Former S.League clubs
- Balestier Central FC (merged with Clementi Khalsa FC to form Balestier Khalsa FC)
- Clementi Khalsa FC (merged with Balestier Central FC to form Balestier Khalsa FC)
- Jurong FC
- Paya Lebar Punggol FC (merged with Sengkang Marine FC to form Sengkang Punggol FC)
- Sembawang Rangers FC
- Sinchi FC
- Sengkang Marine FC (merged with Paya Lebar Punggol FC to form Sengkang Punggol FC)
- Tanjong Pagar United FC (previously known as Tiong Bahru United FC from 1996-97)
League football in Singapore before the S.League
Prior to the formation of the S.League, the top league competitions in Singapore were the Premier League (from 1988-1995) and National Football League (from 1975-1987). These was largely semi-professional leagues and, in the eyes of most fans at the time, were very much second-fiddle to Singapore's participation in the Malaysia Cup and Malaysian League. The Singapore league season was usually held fairly early the year during the pre-S.League era, and many of the Singapore players in the Malaysian competitions also played for clubs in the local Singapore league. The dominant team in Singapore in the pre-S.League period was Geylang International (now Geylang United).
In 1994, in a bid to add some spice to the Premier League and generate increased fan interest, two teams from Australia teams were invited to participate – the Perth Kangaroos and the Darwin Cubs. However after confirming the participation of the two Australian clubs, the Football Association of Singapore then decided to withdraw all the players in its Malaysian League team from participating in the local league that year. This considerably weakened the strength of the local clubs. Perth Kangaroos won the Premier League that year without losing a game, and the Darwin Cubs finished second. The experiment did not succeed in blostering fan interest. (However it perhaps paved the way for the more successful introduction of foreign teams like Albirex Niigata of Japan and Sinchi of China into the S.League a few years later.)
In 1995, the Football Association of Singapore unexpectedly decided to withdraw from the Malaysian League. Most of the players on the Singapore national football team had been due to play in the Malaysian League team. It was therefore decided that the national team should play in the 1995 Premier League competition as a stop-gap measure until the establishment of the S.League the following year. Not surprisingly, the national team finished the season undefeated against the club sides and comfortably won the Premier League that year.
The Premier League was disbanded when the S.League was formed in 1996, but the National Football League continues to exist as a lower tier league in the Singapore football structure.
Premier League champions:
National Football League champions:
See also
External links
- [Official S.League website]
- [Football Association of Singapore website]
- [List of past Singapore league champions on the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation website]
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