Balestier Khalsa FC

Balestier Khalsa

Full name	Balestier Khalsa Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Tigers
Founded	1898
Ground	Toa Payoh Stadium
Ground Capacity	3,896
Chairman	Thavaneson Selvaratnam
Head Coach	Marko Kraljević
League	S.League
2016	8th
Website	Club website

Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a professional football club which plays in Singapore's S.League. The club's logo depicts a Tiger, the nickname of the club, on top of a pair of Kirpan. The logo is made up of key elements from the two clubs it was merged from. The Tiger is the mascot of the Balestier half of the merged entity while the kirpan is a religious dagger worn by members of the Sikh faith, who were a major backer of half of the merged entity through the Clementi club.^[1]

History

Tracing their origins all the way back to 1898, the club was formed as Fathul Karib and based in Farrer Park. One of the highlights over the following half century, before the side was renamed Balestier United Recreation Club in the 1970s, was providing nine players to the Singapore side which competed in the 1958 Asian Games, losing 2-1 to both continental heavyweights South Korea and Israel.^[2]

Balestier United Recreational Club

The club's name was changed to Balestier United Recreation Club^[3] in April 1975, when it joined the inaugural National Football League. The team captured the Singapore Cup in 1958 and 1992. The club played in the Singapore Premier League (the forerunner to the S.League) from 1988 to 1995. The club became the first club in Singapore to bring in foreign players when they signed two Yugoslavian players, Josko Spanjic and Boris Lucic, for the 1989 season.

Balestier Central

In 1996, Balestier United Recreational Club became a founder member of the S.League and changed its name to Balestier Central.

Clementi Khalsa

Clementi Khalsa FC logo

Clementi Khalsa FC was formed as a club to represent Singapore's Sikh community and joined the S.League in 1999. Prior to the merger with Balestier Central, the club was based in the Clementi area of Singapore and played its home games at the Clementi Stadium.

Merger

The club is an amalgamation of Balestier Central Football Club and Clementi Khalsa Football Club who merged at the end of the 2002 S.League season. Due to its link with Clementi Khalsa, the club is very popular amongst Singapore’s Sikh community.

Balestier Khalsa

On August 10, 2012, Balestier Khalsa won the first League Cup Plate Final as the team defeated Young Lions in the Jalan Besar Stadium.

In 2013, Darren Stewart signed several players from his former team, Gombak United and formed a strong foundation of the team, including foreign players Kim Min-ho and Park Kang-jin, together with Singapore national team player Qiu Li and proved to be a success. On 14 September 2013, The Tigers went one level higher by scoring a huge 4–0 win over DPMM FC in the League Cup Final and clinched their first ever silverware. Captain, Paul Cunningham and the team lift the trophy as well as clinching 3rd placing in the Singapore Cup.

Balestier Khalsa signed former U-21 Croatian international Goran Ljubojević on February 11, 2014 as their first ever marquee signing.^[4] As well as Emir Lotinac of Serbia from Novi Pazar. The Tigers won their first ever Singapore Cup on 7 November 2014, beating Home United 3-1 with Goran, Kim and Park scoring the goals.^[5] Thus, qualified for AFC Cup in the following year.

The Tigers make their continental competition debut on 24 February 2015, losing 0-3 to Hong Kong Premier League champions, Kitchee. 10 March, they almost held eventual 2015 champions, Johor Darul Ta'zim to goalless draw but the visitor scored in the stoppage time. Balestier Khalsa finally got their historical first win in the following week, Jonathan Xu scoring his and Tiger's maiden AFC Cup goal and Miroslav Krištić's goal beating East Bengal 2-1. On 10 July 2015, Balestier Khalsa lost narrowly 2-1 against Albirex Niigata (S) to finish runner up in the League Cup.

In 2016, Balestier Khalsa qualified for AFC Cup as Singapore's 2nd best local team and got their first away goals/ win in the AFC Cup, held Dhivehi Premier League champions, New Radiant 2-2 at Malé. They continue to improved their run in the competition and winning Kitchee & New Radiant 1-0 and 3-0 at home. Balestier Khalsa finished 4th in the Singapore Cup after losing to Ceres-La Salle in the third place playoff.

In 2017, due to tight budget, Balestier Khalsa signed 3 former Myanmar national football team players, Aung Kyaw Naing, Kyaw Zayar Win, Nanda Lin Kyaw Chit from Nay Pyi Taw, Ayeyawady United and Yadanabon respectively.

Players

Current squad

As of 16 February 2017 ^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Reno Nathan 2 DF Fadli Kamis 3 DF Hanafi Salleh 4 DF Ashrul Syafeeq 5 MF Shah Hirul 6 DF Tajeli Selamat 7 MF Aung Kyaw Naing 8 MF Raihan Rahman 9 MF Kyaw Zayar Win 10 MF Nanda Lin Kyaw Chit 11 MF Huzaifah Aziz

No. Position Player 12 DF Sheikh Abdul Hadi 13 DF Zulkhair Mustaffa 14 DF Syahfuddin Eska 16 GK Naqiuddin Nodin 18 DF Ahmad Syahir 19 GK Zaiful Nizam (captain) 20 MF Jonathan Tan 21 FW Danial Tan 22 MF Hamzah Fazil 23 MF Hanafi Akbar 24 MF Hazzuwan Halim

Prime league players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 26 Syed Amer Haikal 27 FW Ahmad Salihin 28 DF Delvyn Tan 29 Haziq Nidzam 30 Rafiqin Kamal 31 Majeed Jamil 32 DF Hakeem Amran 33 Amirullah Fauzi 34 Ierhan Raushan 35 Riswan Packir 36 DF Tan Yee Heng

No. Position Player 37 MF Anirhan Jumadi 38 MF Fariz Faizal 39 GK Syahrul Nizam 40 GK Zacharial Leong 41 MF Azrin Junaidi 42 Nasrullah Noor 43 MF Fauzi Zainuddin 44 Kavin Sugumaran 45 MF Zaid Hussain 47 Ryan Goh 47 Mussaveer Shaikh

Managers

• Bogdan Brasoveanu (2001–02, 2003–04)
• Jang Jung (Jan 2004 – Dec 05)
• Abdul Karim Razzak (Jan 2005 – Dec 07)
• Nasaruddin Jalil (Jan 2008 – Dec 10)
• Salim Moin (Jan 2011 – Dec 11)
• Darren Stewart (Jan 2012 – Dec 13)
• Marko Kraljević (Jan 2014–present)

Performance in AFC competitions

• AFC Cup

2015: Group Stage

2016: Group stage

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Position
2015	AFC Cup	Group F	Kitchee	1–2	3–0	4th
			Johor Darul Ta'zim	0–1	3–0
			East Bengal	2–1	3–0
2016	AFC Cup	Group F	New Radiant	3–0	2–2	3rd
			Kitchee	1–0	4–0
			Kaya FC	0–3	1–0

AFC clubs ranking

As of 02 JULY 2017.^[7]

Current Rank	Country	Team
107		Churchill Brothers
108		Al Jazeera
109		Balestier Khalsa
110		Pune FC
111		Arema FC

Honours

Domestic

Cup

• Singapore Cup: 1

• 2014

• League Cup: 2

• 2012 (Plate Winners)
• 2013

• President's Cup: 1

• 1992

• FAS Challenge Cup: 1

• 1958

Reserves

• Prime League: 2

• 2012, 2013

• Singapore FA Cup:

• 2012

Domestic record

As Balestier Central / Balestier Khalsa

As Clementi Khalsa

• The 1996 season of the S.League was split into two series. Tiger Beer Series winners Geylang United defeated Pioneer Series winners Singapore Armed Forces in the Championship play-off to clinch the S.League title.
• 2003 saw the introduction of penalty shoot-outs if a match ended in a draw in regular time. Winners of penalty shoot-outs gained two points instead of one.

Sponsors

• Main Sponsors: Civic Ambulance
• Kit Supplier: Umbro

References

External links

• Official club website
• S.League website page on Balestier Khalsa FC