SINGAPORE: With the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) election set for Apr 28, the local football fraternity is abuzz with anticipation. A new president and council will take office the day after.
The Association’s voting members will choose between two markedly different visions – one led by billionaire tech entrepreneur and Lion City Sailors owner Forrest Li, and the other by Balestier Khalsa vice-chairman Darwin Jalil.
While the specific manifestos of each team remain under wraps at the time of writing, this election offers a moment to reflect on what Singapore football needs from its incoming leaders.
The answer begins with three interlinked priorities: money, a functioning professional league and viable football careers.
It may seem simplistic, but money remains the foundation of modern footballing success. While there are always outliers who punch above their financial weight, sustained excellence in football – be it at the club or national level – requires robust funding.
Singapore ranks among the lowest in Southeast Asia in terms of football investment. Since launching our professional ecosystem in 1996, neighbours like Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have injected four to 10 times more funding into the sport.
Even relative minnows such as Laos and Cambodia have been buoyed by a mix of higher government funding, FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) development grants, as well as corporate sponsorships.
Singapore is one of the wealthiest nations in Southeast Asia. Why, then, does our football infrastructure continue to languish?
The issue lies in the structure of funding. A significant share of football funding in Singapore is directly or indirectly government-linked, funded through Sport Singapore or the Tote Board.
While football receives a larger slice of the budget than other sports, that slice remains limited in absolute terms. Clubs have come to depend heavily on these funds for everything from salaries to operations.
This is not sustainable.
The key for the next FAS leadership is to enable clubs to diversify revenue sources. Japan’s J.League, often cited as a gold standard, relies on a mix of corporate sponsorships, broadcast revenues, player transfers, matchday income, merchandise and academy operations. Government and confederation grants form only a small portion of the overall mix. Clubs are run like businesses and are expected to be self-sustaining.
In Singapore, only Lion City Sailors operate under a private model – funded by Forrest Li – but they, too, have yet to match the commercial fundraising structures of J.League clubs.
Singapore football cannot grow while dependent on a single-source funder. Unlocking new capital must be a top priority.
Singapore’s professional league is plagued by low fan interest and limited competitiveness, both of which undermine national team performance.
Our Singapore Premier League (SPL) features eight local clubs and one foreign club. With each local club allowed six to nine foreign players in a 25-man squad, the number of Singaporean players in the top tier is worryingly small – around 140. Of these, fewer than half play regularly, as clubs often favour foreign talent.
This leaves the national team coach with a pool of perhaps 50 to 70 players to choose from. Add to this the gulf between top and bottom clubs, and many players are rarely exposed to competitive, high-pressure matches.
Shakir Hamzah goes in for a tackle in Singapore’s international friendly with Myanmar, on Nov 14, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Matthew Mohan)
In contrast, when Japan launched its J.League in 1993 with ten clubs, it set a 30-year vision to grow to 60 clubs across three professional divisions. That goal was realised in 2024. Along the way, Japan invested in club licensing, training facilities, youth systems and long-term development planning.
Singapore lacks a similarly robust blueprint. Short-term fixes – bringing in foreign clubs, tweaking club numbers – have not resulted in systemic change.
We need to aim higher: a full-fledged professional league that offers more competitive matches, more professional contracts, and a clearer developmental pathway for aspiring players.
Perhaps the most damaging perception in Singapore football is that it is not a viable career. Stories of players juggling second jobs or earning low wages fuel the notion that football is not a serious profession.
Yet the data paints a more nuanced picture. Average salaries for fully professional SPL players range between S$4,000 to S$5,000 per month. National team regulars have historically earned up to S$20,000. These figures are comparable to Japan's J2, higher than J3, and above many second and third-tier leagues in Eastern Europe and Africa.
The challenge is not merely pay, but stability. Players and coaches who cannot secure overseas contracts often lack job security and long-term career prospects.
Singapore must establish a system where football careers are as structured and secure as those in other sectors. This means not only better salaries but also strong development pathways.
In Japan, players typically know by age 24 whether they can secure professional contracts. Those who don’t often move seamlessly into university football, which itself operates at a highly competitive level.
In Singapore, such pathways remain murky. This is due to our small league and the lack of funding that hampers clubs' ability to offer stable opportunities.
This list, of course, is not comprehensive. There are many other areas of Singapore football that require fixing. Infrastructure and facilities would also be high on the list for land-scarce Singapore, as our amateur clubs today are unable to train regularly before their matches due to the lack of pitches.
This FAS election is not just about new faces. It is an opportunity to reset Singapore football on a path of ambition and growth. We should not aim to "make Singapore football great again" because, in global terms, we have never been great. We have yet to qualify for a World Cup or an Asian Cup.
But if we apply the same drive, vision and planning that have powered Singapore’s national development, there is no reason why our footballers cannot compete on the regional and even global stage.
It starts with bold leadership, then a plan to fund it, build it and believe in it.
Edwin Yeo, a former football commentator, leads the Singapore office of SPRG, a regional integrated communications agency.
Continue reading...
The Association’s voting members will choose between two markedly different visions – one led by billionaire tech entrepreneur and Lion City Sailors owner Forrest Li, and the other by Balestier Khalsa vice-chairman Darwin Jalil.
While the specific manifestos of each team remain under wraps at the time of writing, this election offers a moment to reflect on what Singapore football needs from its incoming leaders.
The answer begins with three interlinked priorities: money, a functioning professional league and viable football careers.
MONEY TALKS
It may seem simplistic, but money remains the foundation of modern footballing success. While there are always outliers who punch above their financial weight, sustained excellence in football – be it at the club or national level – requires robust funding.
Singapore ranks among the lowest in Southeast Asia in terms of football investment. Since launching our professional ecosystem in 1996, neighbours like Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia have injected four to 10 times more funding into the sport.
Even relative minnows such as Laos and Cambodia have been buoyed by a mix of higher government funding, FIFA and Asian Football Confederation (AFC) development grants, as well as corporate sponsorships.
Singapore is one of the wealthiest nations in Southeast Asia. Why, then, does our football infrastructure continue to languish?
The issue lies in the structure of funding. A significant share of football funding in Singapore is directly or indirectly government-linked, funded through Sport Singapore or the Tote Board.
While football receives a larger slice of the budget than other sports, that slice remains limited in absolute terms. Clubs have come to depend heavily on these funds for everything from salaries to operations.
This is not sustainable.
Related:
The key for the next FAS leadership is to enable clubs to diversify revenue sources. Japan’s J.League, often cited as a gold standard, relies on a mix of corporate sponsorships, broadcast revenues, player transfers, matchday income, merchandise and academy operations. Government and confederation grants form only a small portion of the overall mix. Clubs are run like businesses and are expected to be self-sustaining.
In Singapore, only Lion City Sailors operate under a private model – funded by Forrest Li – but they, too, have yet to match the commercial fundraising structures of J.League clubs.
Singapore football cannot grow while dependent on a single-source funder. Unlocking new capital must be a top priority.
A REAL PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE
Singapore’s professional league is plagued by low fan interest and limited competitiveness, both of which undermine national team performance.
Our Singapore Premier League (SPL) features eight local clubs and one foreign club. With each local club allowed six to nine foreign players in a 25-man squad, the number of Singaporean players in the top tier is worryingly small – around 140. Of these, fewer than half play regularly, as clubs often favour foreign talent.
This leaves the national team coach with a pool of perhaps 50 to 70 players to choose from. Add to this the gulf between top and bottom clubs, and many players are rarely exposed to competitive, high-pressure matches.
Shakir Hamzah goes in for a tackle in Singapore’s international friendly with Myanmar, on Nov 14, 2024. (Photo: CNA/Matthew Mohan)
In contrast, when Japan launched its J.League in 1993 with ten clubs, it set a 30-year vision to grow to 60 clubs across three professional divisions. That goal was realised in 2024. Along the way, Japan invested in club licensing, training facilities, youth systems and long-term development planning.
Singapore lacks a similarly robust blueprint. Short-term fixes – bringing in foreign clubs, tweaking club numbers – have not resulted in systemic change.
We need to aim higher: a full-fledged professional league that offers more competitive matches, more professional contracts, and a clearer developmental pathway for aspiring players.
VIABLE CAREERS
Perhaps the most damaging perception in Singapore football is that it is not a viable career. Stories of players juggling second jobs or earning low wages fuel the notion that football is not a serious profession.
Yet the data paints a more nuanced picture. Average salaries for fully professional SPL players range between S$4,000 to S$5,000 per month. National team regulars have historically earned up to S$20,000. These figures are comparable to Japan's J2, higher than J3, and above many second and third-tier leagues in Eastern Europe and Africa.
The challenge is not merely pay, but stability. Players and coaches who cannot secure overseas contracts often lack job security and long-term career prospects.
Singapore must establish a system where football careers are as structured and secure as those in other sectors. This means not only better salaries but also strong development pathways.
In Japan, players typically know by age 24 whether they can secure professional contracts. Those who don’t often move seamlessly into university football, which itself operates at a highly competitive level.
In Singapore, such pathways remain murky. This is due to our small league and the lack of funding that hampers clubs' ability to offer stable opportunities.
A NEW CHAPTER
This list, of course, is not comprehensive. There are many other areas of Singapore football that require fixing. Infrastructure and facilities would also be high on the list for land-scarce Singapore, as our amateur clubs today are unable to train regularly before their matches due to the lack of pitches.
This FAS election is not just about new faces. It is an opportunity to reset Singapore football on a path of ambition and growth. We should not aim to "make Singapore football great again" because, in global terms, we have never been great. We have yet to qualify for a World Cup or an Asian Cup.
But if we apply the same drive, vision and planning that have powered Singapore’s national development, there is no reason why our footballers cannot compete on the regional and even global stage.
It starts with bold leadership, then a plan to fund it, build it and believe in it.
Edwin Yeo, a former football commentator, leads the Singapore office of SPRG, a regional integrated communications agency.
Continue reading...