Hougang United Football Club is a
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
an 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 that competes 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 re ...
.
History
Hougang United Football Club was founded as Marine Castle United Football Club, which was formed by
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...
fans in the Marine Parade area. Upon successful entry into the S.League in 1998, the club struggled in its early foray in the first few years, finishing in the bottom two for the next four seasons.
Marine Castle changed its name to Sengkang Marine Football Club in 2002 and finished in 8th position consecutively, its highest ever finish in its short history.
Financial difficulties then forced Sengkang Marine out of the S.League in 2004, and Paya Lebar-Punggol Football Club took its place in 2005, finishing the season as wooden-spoonist. The two clubs then merged their resources from 2006 to 2010 to form Sengkang Punggol Football Club, finishing no higher than 10th.
On 1 January 2011, the chairman of Sengkang Punggol Football Club, Mr. Bill Ng, announced the changes that began the rewriting of another chapter of the football club. With improved financial status and a change in name to the present Hougang United Football Club, there was renewed optimism among the Hougang fan base around the club's home stadium since its inception,
Hougang Stadium
Hougang Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located at the junction of Hougang Avenue 2 and Hougang Avenue 10 in Hougang, Singapore.
It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Hougang United FC.
The public can ...
.
The club also had its fair share of ‘marquee players’ in the earlier days like
Grant Holt
Grant Holt (born 12 April 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is currently a scout at West Ham United.
During his football career, Holt played for a number of non-league and professional clubs, making nearly 100 league appeara ...
(formerly
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
),
Michael Currie (formerly
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
), and Kim See-man (former South Korea youth international).
In November 2014, it was announced that Hougang United and
Woodlands Wellington
Woodlands Wellington Football Club is an inactive professional association football, football club which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. They are based in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands at the 4,300 seater Woo ...
will merge for the 2015 season.
In 2019, Hougang United in a consolidation of home stadiums had to move out of Hougang Stadium to
Jalan Besar Stadium
Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a association football, football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that i ...
.
Just a year later however, Hougang United moved back to their home stadium, much to the delight of its home supporters.
On 19 November 2022, Hougang United defeated defending champions Tampines Rovers 3–2 in the Singapore Cup final to win their inaugural Singapore Cup. It is their first ever silverware.
Partnership
On 22 November 2014, Hougang United announced a partnership with Global Football Academy for the
2015 S.League season.
On 16 November 2021, Hougang United announced the signing of main sponsorship with The Physio Circle for 3 years starting from 2022 to 2024.
On 19 October 2022, Hougang United announced the signing of sponsorship with Advance Capital Partners Pte Ltd for it's women's team competing in the FAS Women's Premier League.
Scholarship
The Hougang United FC Scholarship was launched in May 2015. The aim of the scholarship is to support and facilitate the academic development of young non-professional footballing talents.
Supporters
The club uniquely has an enthusiastic supporters' club known as the Hougang HOOLS (Hougang Only One Love), which was set up in 2010. The fan group often organise an annual end of season friendly game against the players whom they sing for the entire season. The fan group's main objective is to collate everyone who supports Hougang United and grow them into a healthy fan community. The fan group also has an amateur band called Gate 3, who write songs about celebrating Hougang United.
Seasons
*
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
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.
*
Sengkang Marine sat out the 2004 S.League season. They merged with Paya Lebar Punggol to form Sengkang Marine on their return to the S.League in 2006.
*
Hougang United deducted 5-point for a pre-match brawl with Etoile during the 2011 season.
Continental record
Players
Current squad
[
]
U23
U23
U23
U23
U21
U21
U21
On loan
(to
Young Lions FC
Young Lions Football Club, commonly known as Young Lions, is a Singaporean developmental football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore. The Young Lions ...
)
(National Service until 2022)
(National Service until 2023)
(National Service until 2023)
Technical staff
Managers
Manufacturers and sponsors
Honours
Cup
*
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 ...
: Champion
**
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 ...
References
External links
Official Hougang United FC WebsiteS.League website page on Hougang United FCHougang United FC Facebook pageOfficial Hougang United TwitterOfficial Hougang United Instagram
{{S-League
Football clubs in Singapore
Association football clubs established in 1998
1998 establishments in Singapore
Singapore Premier League clubs