S.League
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The S.League is the top professional football (soccer) league in Singapore. Launched in 1996, the league currently involves 11 teams.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Past champions & runners-up
[edit] Top-performing clubs
| Club | Champions | Runners-up | 3rd-Place | 4th-Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singapore Armed Forces Football Club | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Home United FC | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Geylang United FC | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Tampines Rovers FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Tanjong Pagar United FC | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Woodlands Wellington FC | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Young Lions | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Balestier Khalsa FC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
[edit] Top scorers
| Season | Top scorer | Club |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Laakkad Abdelhadi | Woodlands Wellington FC |
| 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 |
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
[edit] S.League Trivia
- The most successful team in S.League history is the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC), which has won the title five times (1997, 1998, 2000, 2002. 2006), and also finished runners-up four times (1996, 1999, 2001, 2005).
- Besides SAFFC, the only other team which has been able to defend the S.League title was Tampines Rovers, who won it in 2004 and 2005.
- The highest points total achieved by a championship team was 85[1], by Home United in 2003.
- The lowest points total achieved by a championship team was 37[2], by SAFFC in 1997.
- The most league wins achieved by a championship team was 26, by SAFFC in 2002 and Home United in 2003.
- The fewest league wins achieved by a championship team was 12, by SAFFC in 1997.
- The most league draws recorded by a championship team was 7, by Geylang United in 2001.
- The fewest league draws recorded by a championship team was 1, by SAFFC in 1997.
- The most league losses suffered by a championship team was 9, by Geylang United in 1996.
- The fewest league losses suffered by a championship team was 1, by Home United in 1999 and SAFFC in 2002.
- The most league goals scored by a championship team was 104, by SAFFC in 2002 and Home United in 2003.
- The fewest league goals scored by a championship team was 42, by SAFFC in 1997 and Home United in 1999.
- The most league goals conceded by a championship team was 42, by Home United in 2003.
- The fewest league goals conceded by a championship team was 11, by SAFFC in 1997.
- The highest goal difference achieved by a championship team was 67, by SAFFC in 2002.
- The lowest goal difference achieved by a championship team was 13, by Geylang United in 1997.
- The longest winning run in a season was 12 matches, by Tampines Rovers in 2004, who achieved the feat by winning the last 12 games of the season en route to the 2004 title.
- The longest winning start to a season was achieved by SAFFC in 2002, they opened the season with 7 straight wins. The next best starts were by SAFFC itself in 2000 and Woodlands Wellington in 2004 (both 6 opening wins).
- The longest unbeaten run in a season was 22 matches, by SAFFC in 2006.[3]
- The longest unbeaten start to a season was 20 matches, by Home United in 1999. They opened the season with 15 wins and 6 draws, and suffered just 1 defeat at the end of the season after the title was clinched.
- The longest losing run in a season was 15 matches, by Paya Lebar in 2005.
- The longest winless run in a season was 17 matches, also by Paya Lebar in 2005.
- The lowest points total managed by a team was 4, again by Paya Lebar in 2005. They opened the season with 15 straight losses, eventually won just once, drew once, and lost 25 matches out of 27 fixtures.
- 2002 was the only season where the away teams were more dominant than the home teams (usually it is the other way round). Out of the 198 fixtures that year, 77 were won by the home teams, 39 were drawn and 82 were won by the away teams! [4]
[edit] League football in Singapore before the S.League
[edit] 1998-1995
Prior to the formation of the S.League, the top league competition in Singapore was the FAS Premier League. This was a largely semi-professional league and, in the eyes of most fans, was 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), who won the Premier league six consecutive times from 1998-1993.
In 1994, in a bid to add some spice to the Premier League and generate increased fan interest, two teams from Australia were invited to participate – the Perth Kangaroos and the Darwin Cubs. However after confirming the participation of the two Australian clubs, the FAS 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 (although 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 FAS unexpectedly decided to withdraw the Singapore team 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.
Premier League champions:
[edit] 1975-1987
No official league tourment was held in Singapore from 1961-1974. However during this period, an unofficial league tournament developed which grew to involve 118 teams and came to be known as the National Football League. In 1975, the FAS revamped the National Football League into a competition involving 30 teams and made it the official national league tournament.
In 1988, the newly-created FAS Premier League replaced the National Football League as the top tier in Singapore league structure. However the National Football League continued to exist as a lower tier league, and it continues to exists today.
National Football League champions:
[edit] 1904-1960
The first recorded football matches in Singapore were games in the late-1800s between teams from visiting merchant ships and local selections. In response to the demand for competitive matches, the FAS's predecessor, the Singapore Amateur Football Association (which was formed in 1892 and lays claim to being the oldest Football Association in Asia) started a league competition in 1904. The league was originally dominated by Europeans, but local groups soon started to organise their own teams and began to compete in the league competition.
The Singapore Amateur Football Association was replaced by the Football Association of Singapore in 1952.
Football Association of Singapore League champions:
| Year | Champions |
|---|---|
| 1960 | IRC |
| 1959 | Darul Afiah FC |
| 1958 | Darul Afiah FC |
| 1957 | Marine Department SC |
| 1956 | Tiger Standard |
| 1955 | Marine Department SC |
| 1954 | Star Soccerites SC |
| 1953 | Tiger Standard |
| 1952 | Rovers Sport Club |
Singapore Amateur Football Association League champions:
| Year | Champions |
|---|---|
| 1951 | Tiger Standard |
| 1950 | Kota Raja Club |
| 1942-49 | not played |
| 1941 | Royal Air Force |
| 1940 | Royal Air Force |
| 1939 | Singapore Malays Football Association |
| 1938 | Singapore Chinese Football Association |
| 1937 | Singapore Chinese Football Association |
| 1936 | Royal Air Force |
| 1935 | Royal Engineers |
| 1934 | Singapore Chinese Football Association |
| 1933 | Singapore Malays Football Association |
| 1932 | Singapore Malays Football Association |
| 1931 | Singapore Malays Football Association |
| 1930 | Singapore Chinese Football Association |
| 1929 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1928 | 2nd Duke of Wellington's Regiment |
| 1927 | 2nd Duke of Wellington's Regiment |
| 1926 | 2nd Duke of Wellington's Regiment |
| 1925 | Singapore Chinese Football Association |
| 1924 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1923 | 2nd Batallion Middlesex Regiment |
| 1922 | 2nd Batallion Middlesex Regiment |
| 1921 | 1st Batallion South Staffordshire Regiment |
| 1915-20 | not played |
| 1914 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1913 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1912 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1911 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1910 | 3rd Batallion Middlesex Regiment |
| 1909 | 3rd Batallion Middlesex Regiment |
| 1908 | 2nd Batallion West Kent Regiment |
| 1907 | Singapore Cricket Club |
| 1906 | not played |
| 1905 | 1st Batallion Sherwood Foresters |
| 1904 | 1st Batallion Manchester Regiment |
[edit] See also
[edit] 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
[edit] Notes
- ^ 33 game season, with a bonus point awarded to teams who won penalty shootouts after drawn games.
- ^ 16 game season
- ^ SAFFC lose match but party on into the night: http://www.todayonline.com/pda/153544ag.htm
- ^ Source: S.League 2002 http://www.mbovin.com/soccerdb/league/league.php?stageId=111
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