Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, known more popularly as football, is considered the national sport of

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, bor ...

. The country is home to the

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of A ...

(FAS), the oldest football association in Asia with its roots coming from

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

in England. The national teams include the men's,

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

and

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

. Despite the country having a relatively small population pool, it has generally punched above its weight by successively producing squads that has fiercely competed with much larger and more populated countries in both club and international football. The sport reached one of its highest peaks during the 1980s and 1990s with the

Singapore Lions Singapore FA was a representative team of footballers representing the Football Association of Singapore in domestic competitions run by the Football Association of Malaysia. This is separate from the Singapore national team. As it permits ...

' participation in the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the nation's o ...

, whereby they dominated the competition. The Singapore Lions, the team which played in the

, is not considered as a national team. The Singapore Lions left the Malaysia Cup in 1994, before rejoining the competition in 2012 as the LionsXII until 2015, winning a league title in

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 fa ...

and an FA Cup in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

in the process. The men's senior team is one of the strongest national sides in Southeast Asia, being the second most successful team in the AFF Championship with 4 titles, winning in 1998,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

and

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 gat ...

. It is also one of the only two national teams in history to have won consecutive titles in the competition. The current champions of Singaporean club football is

Lion City Sailors Lion City Sailors Football Club, commonly referred to as The Sailors or LCS, is a Singaporean professional football club competing in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of the Singapore football league system. Since the 2021 season, the ...

, having won 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 r ...

title in the

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 coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

season.

History

The first football match in Singapore were between two teams of British engineers in 1889. The Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA), under its current name

(FAS), was formed in 1892 by a group of British in colonial Singapore.

League system

Professional league

The

is a professional league for men's

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 ...

clubs in

, governed by the

. The semi-professional FAS Premier League was replaced by the professional S.League in 1996 when Singapore FA left the

in 1994, due to disputes with the

Football Association of Malaysia The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM, ms, Persatuan Bola Sepak Malaysia) is the national governing body of football in Malaysia responsible for organising the Malaysia national football team within the country. The Football Association o ...

. The league adopted its current name in 2018. Although the SPL is the highest level of domestic football competition in Singapore, it fails to attract supporters, with the dwindling attendees to matches and television view ratings. The FAS has invited foreign clubs to participate in the league, in attempt to increase competitiveness and attract more fans. There is no

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

in the current

Singapore football league system The Singapore football league system organizes association football leagues in Singapore. Association football arrived in the city during the British colonial era. The first ever Nation's cup tournament was held in 1892. Football tournaments conti ...

. The reserves team of the SPL clubs compete in the

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 ...

formed in 1997. Since its inception in 1996, seven clubs have been crowned champions.

Geylang United Geylang International Football Club is a professional football club based in Bedok, Singapore, which plays in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was founded in 1973 with the purpose of building a s ...

claim the first league title. Warriors FC hold the most with nine. In 2010, Étoile FC became the first foreign side to win the competition.

Singapore Football League

The Singapore Football League, or more commonly known as the SFL is a semi-professional competition organised for football clubs which are affiliated with the

. FAS which was previously known as the Singapore Amateur Football Association, SAFA. It was the premier football league of Singapore until the FAS premier league was formed in 1988. The history of NFL can be traced back to as early as the early 20th century.

Women's Premier League

The Women's Premier League is an amateur league for women's football clubs in Singapore, governed by the FAS.

Goal 2010

Goal 2010 was an objective, set by then-Prime Minister

Goh Chok Tong Goh Chok Tong (; born 20 May 1941) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1990 and 2004, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party between 1992 and 2004. He was the Member of Parliament (M ...

in 1998, for the Singapore national team to reach the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

finals in South Africa. However, the goal was not met.

Malaysia Cup

Joining the

in 1921, known as the Malaya Cup at that time, Singapore were the champions of the inaugural competition. They would further succeed in getting 24 titles for themselves during their time in the competition from 1921 to 1994, a span of 74 years. In this competition, and the Malaysia league, Singapore submitted a ''representative team'', which operated like a

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all ...

more than a national football team. It was called the Singapore FA in the country's 74 years in Malaysian football. The competition helped bring the likes of Fandi Ahmad and Dollah Kassim, with the former being the only Singaporean to have played for European clubs – he played for

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

and OFI Crete.

National teams

The Football Association of Singapore organises the men's,

and

national football teams. The men's senior team is the second most successful team in the AFF Championship with 4 titles, winning in 1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012. The youth team claim bronze in the football event of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, and runners-up and second runners-up for the 23rd

Lion City Cup The Lion City Cup, is an annual international association football competition organized by the Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of footb ...

Stadium

The former National Stadium was the home of the Singapore national team. The team moved to

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium a ...

after the former ground was demolished in 2011 for the multi-purpose sports complex

Singapore Sports Hub The Singapore Sports Hub ( Chinese: 新加坡体育城; Malay: Hab Sukan Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் விளையாட்டு மையம்) is a sports and recreation district in Kallang, Singapore. The Sport ...

. After its completion in 2014, the team concurrently uses both the new National Stadium and Jalan Besar Stadium as their home grounds.Singapore Sports Hub to open by April 2014
Asiaone.com (27 August 2010). Retrieved 15 August 2011.

References

{{Football in Asia