Young Lions
Full nameYoung Lions Football Club
Founded2002 (2002)
GroundJalan Besar Stadium
Capacity10,000
OwnerFootball Association of Singapore
Head coachNazri Nasir
LeagueSingapore Premier League
2023Singapore Premier League, 9th

Young Lions Football Club, commonly known as Young Lions, is a Singaporean developmental football club that based in Kallang, Singapore, which competes in the Singapore Premier League. The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore. The Young Lions are one of the few football clubs in the world which place an age restriction on team members while playing in a top-flight professional league.

The Young Lions plays their league matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Their best league finish was third, which they achieved in 2004 and 2006.

History

Goal

By entering the Young Lions into the S.League, the FAS hopes to expose young players to top-level competition, thus helping to prepare them for international tournaments such as the Southeast Asian Games. While the bulk of the Young Lions squad is made up of members of Singapore's national under-23 team, the club also takes in promising young foreign players (e.g. Luka Savić). However, foreign players are normally only recruited into the Young Lions squad if they could potentially change their nationality to Singaporean and be eligible to play international football for Singapore at some point in the future.

Malaysian domestic competition

In 2011, the Football Association of Singapore and the Football Association of Malaysia reached an agreement that would see greater cooperation between the two nations. One of the intended avenues will see Young Lions play in the Malaysian Super League and Malaysia Cup from 2012 onwards, the first time a Singaporean team has participated in Malaysian domestic football since Singapore won the 1994 M-League and Malaysia Cup double. Although the new Singapore team will have the existing Young Lions set up at its core, the squad will be permitted up to five local players over the age of 14–16 players, as well as a number of overseas players in accordance with the quota set out by the rules of the Malaysian competitions the team will play in.[1]

Ultimately though, a new team was created for the Malaysia league: the LionsXII, while Young Lions remained in the S.League.

National Football Academy

Most of the Young Lions players come from the NFA (National Football Academy) and new players (from the NFA) will be promoted to the Young Lions squad every season.

The National Football Academy enters both the Singapore NFA U-17 and Singapore NFA U-18 teams into the Prime League to allow their players to gain more exposure and match experience by playing against older and more established players.[2]

Stadium

Pitchside view of the Jalan Besar Stadium, November 2008

Young Lions had played at the Jalan Besar Stadium since their inception of participating in the S.League. The stadium can holds up a seating capacity of 6,000. In 2012, As part of the LionsXII's sponsorship by Kingsmen, a local fan club, the King George's Stand was built using a removable stand, increasing the stadium's capacity to 8,000.

On 30 October 2012, an LED scoreboard was implemented at the Gallery stand to provide better quality video to the spectators, allowing replay video highlights of the action on the field during matchdays. Two new screens were also placed at the two ends of the Grandstand, North and South, to enable better match experience for the Gallery fans.


Sponsorship and naming history

Year Sponsors Club name References
2011–2015 Singapore Courts Courts Young Lions [3]
2016–2017 Singapore Garena Garena Young Lions [4]

Players

As of 24 Jun 2023[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Singapore SGP Prathip Ekamparam
9 FW Singapore SGP Zikos Chua
13 GK Singapore SGP Rauf Erwan
15 DF Singapore SGP Kieran Teo
16 FW Singapore SGP Ryan Praveen
18 FW Singapore SGP Syafie Redzuan
19 FW Singapore SGP Syahadat Masnawi
20 DF Singapore SGP Ilhan Noor
21 MF Singapore SGP Iman Hakim
25 GK Singapore SGP Aizil Yazid
26 DF Singapore SGP Ikram Mikhail
27 DF Singapore SGP Syafi'i Hilman
No. Pos. Nation Player
28 FW Singapore SGP Ameen Shah
30 MF Singapore SGP Fairuz Fazli
32 GK Singapore SGP Umayr Sujuandy
34 DF Singapore SGP Aqil Yazid
35 MF Singapore SGP Loo Kai Sheng
36 FW Singapore SGP Danish Haqimi
37 MF Singapore SGP Farhan Zulkifli
39 DF Singapore SGP Sahffee Jubpre
40 FW Singapore SGP Amiruldin Asraf
41 FW Singapore SGP Irfan Iskandar
42 MF Singapore SGP Haziq Kamarudin

Players on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF Singapore SGP Raoul Suhaimi (National Service till 2025)
14 MF Singapore SGP Ryu Hardy (National Service till 2025)
10 MF Singapore SGP Amir Syafiz (National Service till 2025)

Staff

PositionName
Team Manager

Singapore Sakthi Vel Ganesan

Head coachSingapore Nazri Nazri
Assistant coach

Singapore Fadzuhasny Juraimi

Singapore Afiq Yahya

Goalkeeper coachSingapore Ahmadulhaq Che Omar
Fitness coach Singapore Donald Wan
PhysiotherapistSingapore Alex Poon
Sports TrainerSingapore Ryan Wang

Singapore Jasmori Rasip

Equipment OfficerSingapore Omar Mohamed

Source:[6]

Performance in domestic competitions

Season League Pos. Pld W D L GS GA Pts Singapore Cup League Cup
2003 S.League 12th 3361–521337725 Quarter-finals
2004 3rd 271458745247 Quarter-finals
2005 6th 271269443742 Quarter-finals
2006 3rd 301578674352 Quarter-finals
2007 5th 3313812455447 Preliminary Withdrew
2008 9th 3371016304631 Semi-finals Semi-finals
2009 8th 309714334834 Preliminary Group stage
2010 9th 3391212374534 Semi-finals Preliminary
2011 9th 337620335427 Withdrew Withdrew
2012 10th 246513253723 Withdrew Group stage
2013 12th 275319205218 Preliminary Group stage
2014 10th 277515385426 Did not participate Did not participate
2015 9th 277614304327 Did not participate Did not participate
2016 9th 24231923709 Preliminary Did not participate
2017 9th 24132010626 Did not participate Did not participate
2018 Singapore Premier League 7th 245613254621 Did not participate
2019 8th 246414213822 Did not participate
2020 7th 14301112389 Not Held
2021 7th 214413265016 Not Held
2022 8th 28 2 2 24 34 103 8 Group Stage
2023 9th 24 1 2 21 76 76 5 Group Stage
  • 2003 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.

Notable foreign players

Asia

Europe

Africa

North America

Records and statistics

As of 12 December 2023.

Top 10 all-time appearances

Rank Player Years Club appearances
1 Singapore Afiq Yunos 2008–2013 114
2 Singapore Syahrul Sazali 2016–2019

2021–2022

101
3 Singapore Syazwan Buhari 2010–2015 87
Singapore Amirul Adli 2011–2017
Singapore Hariss Harun 2007–2011
Canada Sherif El-Masri 2012–2015
7 Singapore Faritz Abdul Hameed 2009–2012 83
8 Singapore Hami Syahin 2015–2018

2020–2021

82
9 Singapore Sheikh Abdul Hadi 2011–2015 78
10 Singapore Zulqarnaen Suzliman 2016–2019

2021–2022

76

Top 10 all-time scorers

Rank Player Club appearances Total goals
1 Singapore Khairul Amri 56 34
2 Canada Sherif El-Masri 87 18
Singapore Qiu Li 27
4 Singapore Khairul Nizam 57 15
5 Canada Jordan Webb 39 14
6 Singapore Ilhan Fandi 33 13
7 Singapore Sahil Suhaimi 38 12
8 Singapore Fazli Ayob 76 11
9 Singapore Fareez Farhan 51 10
Singapore Afiq Yunos 111
  • Biggest Wins: 7–1 vs Sinchi FC (23 September 2004)
  • Heaviest Defeats: 1–10 vs Lion City Sailors (13 August 2022)
  • Youngest Goal scorers: Khairin Nadim ~ 16 years 6 months 9 days old (On 17 November 2020 vs Tampines Rovers)
  • Oldest Goal scorers: Khairul Amri ~ 31 years 06 months 11 days old (On 1 April 2023 vs Geylang International)
  • Youngest ever debutant: Raoul Suhaimi ~ 15 years 7 months 27 days old (On 15 May 2021 vs Albirex Niigata Singapore)
Last win against others Singapore Premier League club
Club Score Year Match type
Albirex Niigata (S) 0–1 2 November 2015 2015 S.League
Balestier Khalsa 4–2 14 August 2021 2021 Singapore Premier League
DPMM No recorded win
Geylang International 4–2 26 November 2023 2023 Singapore Cup
Hougang United 2–1 18 March 2023 2023 Singapore Premier League
Lion City Sailors(As Home United) 0–3 18 September 2019 2019 Singapore Premier League
Tanjong Pagar United 4–2 7 August 2022 2022 Singapore Premier League
Tampines Rovers 2–1 1 August 2018 2018 Singapore Premier League
Warriors FC 0–1 8 April 2018 2018 Singapore Premier League

Match brawl

On 7 September 2010, The S.League fixture between both Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent was abandoned in the 89th minute when a massive brawl erupted into violence. The referee and his assistants lost control. Its all started in the final 10 minutes of the game when the first fight broke out in the 84th minute. The match then continued with Afiq Yunos equalising for the Young Lions in the 88th minute. However, a tackle by Beijing’s Yu Tianzhu on Young Lions, Nazrul Nazari in the middle of the field saw the match degenerate into a brawl involving both teams, including bench players. As seen in the Youtube video, several Beijing players went in with flying kicks on Gabriel Quak which he suffered an arm injury while Faritz Hameed was seen receiving a blow to the head as he was on the ground. Both Young Lions players were evacuated to the hospital. Beijing's goalkeeper, Su Boyang was also seen attempting to punch Khairul Nizam. Young Lions head coach, Eugene Loo stepped in to help cool down the tension but was in turn kicked in the back as well and fell over. To make matter worst, several fans were also spotted jumping into the field to fight. Even a medical personnel lost his cool and had to be held back. He was seen escorted away from the pitch while challenging the Beijing players to a fight.

Both clubs have been docked five points and fined $5,000 each. The FAS Disciplinary Committee has also concluded that the match will not be replayed and the result will stand.10 players from Beijing and 6 players from Young Lions have been charged for gross misconduct which brought the game into disrepute. Both teams have sinced apologised for the fight.

Same outcome

References

  1. Singapore Lions to participate in 2012 Malaysia Cup – Asia One, 12/07/11
  2. "Prime League Table". S.League Official Website. 11 July 2012.
  3. "Soccer-Singapore's Young Lions get name change, S$1 million". Reuters. 2011-01-27. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  4. "Young Lions snare S$4m sponsorship deal - biggest in S.League history". TODAY. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. "SPL 2023 Transfer Centre Club Guide: Young Lions". Singapore Premier League. 28 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  6. "Club Profile – Garena Young Lions". S-League. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
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