The Singapore Football League (SFL) is a semi-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 ...

tournament for clubs that are affiliated 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 ...

. It makes up the second and third tier of football in

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 ...

after the professional

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 ...

, which was established in 1996 and before the FAS Island Wide League. The teams are also eligible to compete in the

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 ...

. Although it is semi-professional competition organized by the FAS, several former Singapore internationals and ex-

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 ...

players have played in the NFL such as Jonathan Xu,

Indra Sahdan Indra Sahdan bin Daud (born 5 March 1979) is a former Singapore international footballer who played as a forward. He previously played for S.League clubs Geylang United, Home United, Sengkang Punggol and Singapore Armed Forces. He is know ...

(Eunos Crescent), Yazid Yasin (Gymkhana FC) and

Zulkiffli Hassim Zulkiffli Hassim (born March 26, 1986) is a Singaporean professional footballer who currently plays for Tanjong Pagar United. He plays as a forward. Career Gombak United Zulkiffli played for Woodlands Wellington and Gombak United reserve team ...

(Yishun Sentek Mariners).

History

The history of NFL can be traced back to the earliest 20th century during the British colonization of Singapore, whereby the Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA), now known as

was formed in year of 1892. The then SAFA was responsible for organising the top tier football leagues in Singapore. The NFL was a top tier football league from early 20th century, until the formation of

FAS Premier League The Football Association of Singapore Premier League was a semi-professional football league competition held in Singapore between 1988 and 1995. The Premier League succeeded the National Football League Division One as the top tier of the Singapor ...

in 1988. It was previously made up of Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3, with the bottom team of Division 3 being relegated to the FAS Island Wide League. As of 2018, it makes up provisional tiers 2 and 3, behind the professional Singapore Premier League, with rules of promotion and relegation applied for teams in NFL Division One and NFL Division Two. Teams play two-round league home-away format. League features promotions and relegations for all the teams in both divisions, where the top two teams of a division will be promoted to the upper division, and the last two relegated to the lower division.

Division 1 clubs

Balestier United RC Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Founded in 1898, the club is considered as the oldest football club in the country. History Tracing their origins all th ...

* Siglap FC *

Eunos Crescent FC Eunos Crescent Football Club is a Singaporean association football club based in Eunos, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore National Football League. History The club was established in 1975. In 2006 they won Division Two of the Nationa ...

* Katong FC * Police Sports Association * SAFSA * Singapore Khalsa Association * Tiong Bahru FC *

Yishun Sentek Mariners FC Yishun Sentek Mariners FC is a football club based in Yishun, Singapore, that plays in the National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equal ...

* Warwick Knights FC

Division 2 clubs

* Admiralty CSC *

Admiralty FC Admiralty Football Club, also commonly known as Admiralty FC, is a football club which plays in the Division 2 of the Singapore Football League, the third tier of football in Singapore. History Admiralty FC started off in 1987 as a participa ...

* Bishan Barx FC * Jungfrau Punggol *

Kaki Bukit Kaki Bukit ( Jawi: كاكي بوكيت; ) is a small town in Perlis, Malaysia. It has an estimated population of 3,000. Kaki Bukit is located 26 kilometres (16 miles) north of the state capital, Kangar and a few miles away from Padang Besar, the ...

* Kembangan United * Project Vaults Oxley SC *

Singapore Cricket Club The Singapore Cricket Club (SCC) is one of the premier sports and social clubs in Singapore. Its clubhouse is located on Connaught Drive on the south end of the Padang in Singapore's central business district. History The SCC was esta ...

* South Avenue SC

Past champions

In 1975, the

revamped the existing league structure involving 118 teams into a two-tier league system. For the 1987 season, the teams play each other once in a league format. The top eight placed teams in the league progressed to a knock-out stage to determine the champions. League stage winners Tiong Bahru defeated 4th-placed Tampines Rovers 2–1 in the final to clinch the championship. Reference: The top tier of the football league system was replaced by the

from 1988, the

from 1996 and the

from 2018.

NFL Division 1

NFL Division 2

NFL Division 3

Island Wide League

References

{{Football in Singapore 2 Second level football leagues in Asia Professional sports leagues in Singapore