Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a

Singaporean Singaporeans, or the Singaporean people, refers to citizens or people who identify with the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. Singaporeans of Chinese, Malay, India ...

professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club competing in the

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which ...

, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, the team have played their home games at Jalan Besar Stadium. LCS is one of the most successful

clubs in Singapore, with its club owner being

Forrest Li Forrest Li Xiaodong (born 1977 or 1978), is a Chinese-born Singaporean billionaire businessman. He is the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Sea Limited, a company with subsidiaries including Garena and Shopee. He is also the Chairm ...

, who also owns

Sea Ltd Sea Limited (Stylized as: sea) is a tech conglomerate headquartered in Singapore. Established in 2009 by Forrest Li, Sea was initially founded as Garena, a game development and publishing company known for its ''Free Fire'' title. The compan ...

. In 2021, the club smashed the league transfer history with a record S$3 million signing of Diego Lopes.

History

The Police Sports Association was founded in 1945 to organize football activities for the

Singapore Police Force The Singapore Police Force (SPF) is the national and principal law enforcement agency responsible for the prevention of crime and law enforcement in the Republic of Singapore. It is the country's lead agency against organised crime; human, wea ...

. It sent two teams to compete in the Singapore Amateur Football Association League in the 1950s and 1960s, but neither team won any trophies. Under coach

Choo Seng Quee Choo Seng Quee Joseph (; 1 December 1914 – 30 June 1983), popularly known as Uncle Choo, was a Singaporean footballer and football coach. He was coach of the Indonesia, Malaya/Malaysia and Singapore national teams. He is widely recognised a ...

, Police SA won the inaugural President's Cup in 1968, then reached and lost the next two finals. When the S.League was formed in 1996, the club was known as the Police Football Club. The following year, its name was changed to Home United to reflect the fact that the team represented not only the Singapore Police Force, but also other HomeTeam departments of the Singapore

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

such as the

Singapore Civil Defence Force The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is an uniformed organisation in Singapore under the Ministry of Home Affairs that provides emergency services such as firefighting, technical rescue, and emergency medical services, and coordinates nati ...

and the

Immigration and Checkpoints Authority The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) is a law-enforcement command within the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the border control agency responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in Singapore. IC ...

. Home United was two-time S.League winners and holders of a record six

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost football cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

trophies. It was the first club to achieve the S.League and Singapore Cup double in 2003. The team's nickname was the "Protectors"; its mascot, a dragon; its home ground, the

Bishan Stadium Bishan Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Bishan, Singapore. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium was constructed in 1998 and is managed by Sport Singapore. The public can use the facilities from 4:30 am to 8:30 pm da ...

. On 14 February 2020, the club was privatised for the first time in its history, when Singaporean billionaire

announced that he had purchased a 100% stake in the club. Home United Football Club was officially renamed as Lion City Sailors Football Club and its signature red colour was replaced with white and blue. LCS' main aim following its rebranding was to boost professionalism in Singaporean football, with becoming a Southeast Asian super club its long-term goal. The new name, Sailors, was a homage to the country's maritime heritage. On 21 January 2021, the club created history by smashing the Singapore Premier League transfer-fee record with the signing of midfielder Diego Lopes from Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave for 1.8 million euros on a three-year deal. On 18 April 2022, the club defeated

K League 1 The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

club

Daegu FC Daegu FC ( Korean: 대구 FC) is a South Korean professional football club based in Daegu. The club was founded as a community club at the end of 2002, and made their K League 1 debut in 2003. Daegu has played mostly in the K League 1 but was rel ...

3–0 in the 2022 AFC Champions League, their first AFC Champions League win since their rebranding.

Lion City Sailors Football Academy

In February 2013, Home United opened and operated a football academy, Home United FC Youth Football Academy (HYFA). HYFA comprises ten futsal courts, two full-size football pitches, an events plaza, staff offices, meeting rooms and a Sports Performance Centre. In June 2020, the launch of the new Lion City Sailors Football Academy was announced, along with further plans on youth development and its investments. It was given a one-star rating by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

. On 24 April 2021, the Lion City Sailors announced the construction of a new training facility that will be home to both the Sailors and the LCS Football Academy. The facility is planned to be completed in April 2022.

Players

Squad

^U23 ^U23 ^U21 ^U21 ^U21 ^U21 ^U21

On loan

^U21 (to Young Lions) ^U21 (to

Tanjong Pagar United Tanjong Pagar United Football Club is a professional football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club took part in S.League from 1996 to 2004, and from 2011 to 2014. The club with ...

) ^U23 (National Service until 2023)

Club officials

Honours

League *

S.League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which re ...

: 3 ** 1999, 2003,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Division One: 1 ** 1985 Cup *

: 6 (record) **

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, 2001, 2003,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Singapore Community Shield The Singapore Community Shield (also known as the AIA Community Shield due to sponsorship reasons; formerly the Charity Shield) is the curtain-raiser to the football season in Singapore. The match is contested between the champions of the previou ...

: 2 ** 2019, 2022 *

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

: 1 ** 1980 * FAS Challenge Cup: 1 ** 1968 Reserves *

Prime League The Prime League was the reserve and youth team soccer league of Singapore's S.League. Teams involved in the league are primarily made up of youth players from the S.League clubs. The Prime League was founded in 1997. S.League clubs are required ...

: 8 (record) ** 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, 2014, 2016, 2017 *

Singapore FA Cup The Singapore FA Cup, (also known as the Singapore Pools FA Cup for sponsorship reasons), is an annual football competition in Singapore. Initially held for clubs from the S.League from 1996-1998, the Football Association of Singapore decided to ...

: 3 ** 2013, 2015, 2016

Performance in AFC competitions

* AFC Champions League: 1 appearances :: 2001: Second round ::

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

: Group stage * AFC Cup: 10 appearances :: 2004: Semi-finals ::

: Quarter-Finals ::

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

: Group stage ::

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: Quarter-finals ::

: Round of 16 ::

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

: Round of 16 :: 2014: Group stage :: 2017: Zonal Finalist :: 2018: Inter-zonal Semi-finals :: 2019: Group stage

Performance

Performance by coach

The following table provides a summary of the coach appointed by the club. :''Statistics correct as of 7 Nov 2022''

Performance by Competition

Singapore Premier League

The following table provides a summary of the result by season. :''Statistics correct as of 21 Oct 2022''

AFC Competition