S.League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

S.League
Founded
1996
Nation
Flag of Singapore Singapore
Relegation to
No relegation
Number of Teams
12
Asian Qualification
AFC Cup
Cups
Singapore Cup
Singapore League Cup
Current Champions (2007)
Singapore Armed Forces Football Club
Website
Official

The S.League is the top professional football league in Singapore. Launched in 1996, the league currently involves 12 teams.

Contents

[edit] History

Prior to 1996, local football 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 football 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 footballer 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 12 teams. 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 recruited 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.)

Six non-Singaporean teams have been involved in the S.League:

Sinchi participated in the league for three years, before withdrawing after the 2005 season for financial reasons. Sporting Afrique participated in the 2006 season, but the club was embroiled in a number of off-field controversies and was not invited to participate again in 2007. Liaoning Guangyuan participated in the 2007 season, but the club was embroiled in a match-fixing controversy and was not invited to participate again in 2008. Albirex Niigata, Dalian Shide and Super Reds continue to be involved.

The S.League also operates a Reserve cum Youth Tournament known as the Prime League.[1]

[edit] Past champions and runners-up

Year Champions Runners-up
2008 TBD TBD
2007 Singapore Armed Forces FC Home United FC
2006 Singapore Armed Forces FC Tampines Rovers FC
2005 Tampines Rovers FC Singapore Armed Forces FC
2004 Tampines Rovers FC Home United FC
2003 Home United FC Geylang United FC
2002 Singapore Armed Forces FC Home United FC
2001 Geylang United FC Singapore Armed Forces FC
2000 Singapore Armed Forces FC Tanjong Pagar United FC
1999 Home United FC Singapore Armed Forces FC
1998 Singapore Armed Forces FC Tanjong Pagar United FC
1997 Singapore Armed Forces FC Tiong Bahru United FC
1996 Geylang United FC Singapore Armed Forces FC

[edit] Top scorers

Season Games Top scorer Club Goals
2007 33 Flag of Singapore Aleksandar Duric Singapore Armed Forces FC 37
2006 30 Flag of Morocco Laakkad Abdelhadi Woodlands Wellington FC 23
2005 27 Flag of Singapore Mirko Grabovac Tampines Rovers FC 26
2004 27 Flag of Singapore Egmar Goncalves Home United FC 30
2003 33 Flag of Brazil Peres De Oliveira Home United FC 37
2002 33 Flag of Singapore Mirko Grabovac Singapore Armed Forces FC 36
2001 33 Flag of Croatia Mirko Grabovac Singapore Armed Forces FC 42
2000 22 Flag of Croatia Mirko Grabovac Singapore Armed Forces FC 19
1999 22 Flag of Croatia Mirko Grabovac Singapore Armed Forces FC 24
1998 20 Flag of England Stuart Young Home United FC 15
1997 16 Flag of Croatia Goran Paulić Balestier Central FC 24
1996 28 Flag of Croatia Jure Eres Singapore Armed Forces FC 29

[edit] Current clubs

[edit] Former clubs

[edit] Top-performing clubs

Club
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Singapore Armed Forces FC 6 4 1 1
Home United FC 2 3 1 3
Geylang United FC 2 1 3 1
Tampines Rovers FC 2 1 1 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
Gombak United FC 0 0 0 1

[edit] All-time records by clubs

(Pts)
#
Club
[1]
Seasons
[2]
GP
W
(PK)
W
D
L
F
A
GD
Pts
[3]
PPG
(PPG)
#
1 Singapore Armed Forces FC 12 (1996-2007) 325
[4]
214 2 59 50 802 392 +410 705 2.169 1
2 Home United FC 12 (1996-2007) 324 179 2 59 84 683 451 +232 600 1.852 2
3 Tampines Rovers FC 12 (1996-2007) 324 153 3 66 102 636 471 +165 531 1.639 3
4 Geylang United FC 12 (1996-2007) 325
[5]
149 3 69 104 564 420 +144 522 1.606 4
5 Woodlands Wellington FC 12 (1996-2007) 324 125 4 74 121 557 535 +22 451
[6]
1.392 9
6 Balestier Khalsa FC 12 (1996-2007) 324 92 2 72 158 483 660 -177 352 1.086 10
7 Tanjong Pagar United FC 9 (1996-2004) 234 100 2 46 86 399 385 +14 350 1.496 5
8 Jurong FC 7 (1997-2003) 179 70 7 29 73 261 274 -13 253 1.413 8
9 Sembawang Rangers FC 8 (1996-2003) 207 53 5 47 102 256 409 -149 216 1.043 12
10 Young Lions 5 (2003-2007) 150 60 1 31 58 263 263 0 213 1.420 7
11 Gombak United FC 7 (1998-2002,
2006-2007)
193 53 0 43 97 264 362 -98 202 1.047 11
12 Sengkang Punggol FC 8 (1998-2003,
2006-2007)
226 43 8 39 136 259 507 -248 184 0.814 16
13 Albirex Niigata FC 4 (2004-2007) 117 45 0 33 39 197 168 +29 168 1.436 6
14 Clementi Khalsa FC 4 (1999-2002) 110 22 0 29 59 150 261 -111 95 0.864 15
15 Sinchi FC 3 (2003-2005) 87 22 6 13 46 109 167 -58 88
[7]
1.011 13
16 Liaoning Guangyuan FC 1 (2007) 33 8 0 5 20 33 63 -30 29 0.879 14
17 Sporting Afrique FC 1 (2006) 30 5 0 9 26 36 59 -23 24 0.800 17
18 Super Reds FC 1 (2007) 33 3 0 9 21 24 80 -56 18 0.545 18
19 Paya Lebar Punggol FC 1 (2005) 27 1 0 1 25 23 78 -55 4 0.148 19
20 Dalian Shide FC (Singapore) 0 (2008-) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 20

[edit] Trivia

  • The most successful team in S.League history is the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC), which has won the title six times (1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007), 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[8], by Home United in 2003.
  • The lowest points total achieved by a championship team was 37[9], 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 1996.
  • 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 2008, they opened the season with 8 straight wins. The next best starts were by SAFFC itself in 2002 (7 opening wins), followed by: SAFFC in 2000, Woodlands Wellington in 2004 and Super Reds in 2008 (all three had 6 opening wins).
  • The longest unbeaten run in a season was 22 matches, by SAFFC in 2006.[10]
  • The longest unbeaten start to a season was 21 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! [11]

[edit] League football in Singapore before the S.League

[edit] 1988-1995

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 1988-1993.

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:

Year Champions
1995 Singapore National Team
1994 Perth Kangaroos IFC
1993 Geylang International
1992 Geylang International
1991 Geylang International
1990 Geylang International
1989 Geylang International
1988 Geylang International

[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 exist today.

National Football League champions:

Year Champions
1987 Tiong Bahru CSC
1986 Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association
1985 Police Sports Association
1984 Tampines Rovers
1983 Tiong Bahru CSC
1982 Farrer Park United
1981 Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association
1980 Tampines Rovers
1979 Tampines Rovers
1978 Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association
1977 Geylang International
1976 Geylang International
1975 Geylang International

[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 Battalion Middlesex Regiment
1922 2nd Battalion Middlesex Regiment
1921 1st Battalion 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 Battalion Middlesex Regiment
1909 3rd Battalion Middlesex Regiment
1908 2nd Battalion West Kent Regiment
1907 Singapore Cricket Club
1906 not played
1905 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters
1904 1st Battalion Manchester Regiment

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ The latest names are used for clubs who had name changes, e.g. Home_United_FC was formerly known as Police FC.
  2. ^ Up to the end of season 2007.
  3. ^ Including points won through penalty shoot-outs in 2003 Season.
  4. ^ Including the Title Playoff Game at the end of 1996 Season.
  5. ^ Including the Title Playoff Game at the end of 1996 Season.
  6. ^ Woodlands Wellington FC had 6 points deducted for match walkout in 2007 Season.
  7. ^ Sinchi FC had 3 points deducted at the end of 2005 Season.
  8. ^ 33 game season, with a bonus point awarded to teams who won penalty shootouts after drawn games.
  9. ^ 16 game season
  10. ^ SAFFC lose match but party on into the night: http://www.todayonline.com/pda/153544ag.htm
  11. ^ Source: S.League 2002 http://www.mbovin.com/soccerdb/league/league.php?stageId=111

[edit] External links