Jump to content

Young Lions FC

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Young Lions
Full nameYoung Lions Football Club
Nickname(s)Merlion Cubs
Short nameYGL
Founded2002; 22 years ago (2002)
GroundJalan Besar Stadium
Capacity10,000
OwnerFootball Association of Singapore
ChairmanFarehan Hussein
Head coachNazri Nasir
LeagueSingapore Premier League
2023Singapore Premier League, 9th of 9
Current season

Young Lions Football Club, commonly known as Young Lions, is a Singaporean developmental football club that in Kallang, Singapore, which competes in the Singapore Premier League. The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore.

Young Lions are one of the few football clubs in the world that is made up of young Singaporean footballers serving their compulsory two-year national service which place an age restriction on team members while playing in a top-flight professional league. Players are on loan in from several local Singapore Premier League club every season and would spend two years with the side before returning to their previous professional club.

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

History

[edit]

Goal

[edit]

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.

In 2023, Young Lions signed both Japanese duo Jun Kobayashi and Kan Kobayashi from Albirex Niigata (S) who became the foreign players playing for the club for the first time since signing France national, Benjamin Bertrand from Ligue 2 club, Tours in 2016. In preparation for the upcoming 2024–25 Singapore Premier League season, Young Lions signed an additional two more Japanese players, Kaisei Ogawa and Itsuki Enomoto and also signing Australian national Rashid Hayek from Western United making it the first time the club has five foreigners registered in the squad.

Malaysian domestic competition

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]
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 8,000. 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 10,000.

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

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

Players

[edit]
As of 30 May 2024[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 Aizil Yazid
2 DF Singapore SGP Raoul Suhaimi
3 DF Singapore SGP Aqil Yazid
4 DF Singapore SGP Ikram Mikhail
5 DF Japan JPN Jun Kobayashi
6 DF Singapore SGP Syafi'i Hilman
7 MF Japan JPN Kan Kobayashi
8 MF Japan JPN Kaisei Ogawa
9 FW Japan JPN Itsuki Enomoto
10 MF Singapore SGP Amir Syafiz
11 MF Singapore SGP Farhan Zulkifli (vice-captain)
12 FW Singapore SGP Danish Haziq
13 GK Singapore SGP Rauf Erwan
14 DF Singapore SGP Wong Ngang Haang
15 DF Singapore SGP Kieran Teo (vice-captain)
16 MF Singapore SGP Fathullah Rahmat
18 FW Singapore SGP Samuel Pillai
19 DF Singapore SGP Andrew Aw
20 MF Singapore SGP Fairuz Fazli
21 FW Singapore SGP Danish Haqimi
22 DF Singapore SGP Febryan Pradana
No. Pos. Nation Player
23 GK Singapore SGP Travis Ang
24 FW Singapore SGP Danish Qayyum
25 MF Singapore SGP Izz Anaqi
26 DF Singapore SGP Nur Adam Abdullah
27 MF Singapore SGP Sahoo Garv
29 FW Singapore SGP Lim Zheng Wu
31 DF Singapore SGP Ryaan Sanizal (captain)
32 GK Singapore SGP Umayr Sujuandy
33 MF Singapore SGP Ethan Pinto
37 DF Australia AUS Rashid Hayek
40 DF Singapore SGP Haziq Riduan
41 DF Singapore SGP Akash Rai
42 FW Singapore SGP Khairin Nadim
45 MF Singapore SGP Nyqil Iyyan
55 MF Singapore SGP Jonan Tan
77 DF Singapore SGP Danial Crichton
MF Singapore SGP Rasul Ramli
MF Singapore SGP Iman Hakim
MF Singapore SGP Syady Sufwan
GK Singapore SGP Firman Nabil
MF Singapore SGP Ryu Hardy

Players on loan

[edit]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
DF Singapore SGP Andrew Aw (National Service till 2025)

Technical staff

[edit]
Position Name
Team Manager Singapore Sakthi Vel Ganesan
Head coach Singapore Nazri Nasir
Assistant coach Singapore Fadzuhasny Juraimi
Japan Kosei Nakamura
Singapore Afiq Yahya
Goalkeeper coach Singapore Ahmadulhaq Che Omar
Fitness coach Singapore Donald Wan
Physiotherapist Singapore Alex Poon
Sports Trainer Singapore Ryan Wang
Singapore Jasmori Rasip
Equipment Officer Singapore Omar Mohamed

Source:[6]

Performance in domestic competitions

[edit]
Season League Pos. Pld W D L GS GA Pts Singapore Cup League Cup
2003 S.League 12th 33 6 1–5 21 33 77 25 Quarter-finals
2004 3rd 27 14 5 8 74 52 47 Quarter-finals
2005 6th 27 12 6 9 44 37 42 Quarter-finals
2006 3rd 30 15 7 8 67 43 52 Quarter-finals
2007 5th 33 13 8 12 45 54 47 Preliminary Withdrew
2008 9th 33 7 10 16 30 46 31 Semi-finals Semi-finals
2009 8th 30 9 7 14 33 48 34 Preliminary Group stage
2010 9th 33 9 12 12 37 45 34 Semi-finals Preliminary
2011 9th 33 7 6 20 33 54 27 Withdrew Withdrew
2012 10th 24 6 5 13 25 37 23 Withdrew Group stage
2013 12th 27 5 3 19 20 52 18 Preliminary Group stage
2014 10th 27 7 5 15 38 54 26 Did not participate Did not participate
2015 9th 27 7 6 14 30 43 27 Did not participate Did not participate
2016 9th 24 2 3 19 23 70 9 Preliminary Did not participate
2017 9th 24 1 3 20 10 62 6 Did not participate Did not participate
2018 Singapore Premier League 7th 24 5 6 13 25 46 21 Did not participate
2019 8th 24 6 4 14 21 38 22 Did not participate
2020 7th 14 3 0 11 12 38 9 Not Held
2021 7th 21 4 4 13 26 50 16 Not Held
2022 8th 28 2 2 24 34 103 8 Group Stage
2023 9th 24 1 2 21 24 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

[edit]

Asia

[edit]

Europe

[edit]

Africa

[edit]

North America

[edit]

Managerial history

[edit]
No. Manager Years
1 Singapore P. N. Sivaji 1 January 2003–31 December 2003
2 Denmark Kim Poulsen 1 January 2004–31 December 2004
3 Singapore Fandi Ahmad 1 January 2005–31 December 2006
4 Singapore V. Sundramoorthy 1 January 2007–31 December 2008
5 Singapore Terry Pathmanathan 1 January 2009–13 January 2010
6 Singapore V. Sundramoorthy (2) 14 January 2010–31 December 2010
7 Singapore Robin Chitrakar 1 January 2011–13 January 2013
8 Singapore Aide Iskandar 14 January 2013–11 June 2015
9 Germany Jürgen Raab 1 July 2015–13 January 2016
10 France Richard Tardy 1 January 2016–15 February 2016
11 France Patrick Hesse 15 February 2016–9 November 2016
12 Singapore V. Selvaraj 9 November 2016–17 May 2017
13 France Richard Tardy (2) 17 May 2017–27 July 2017
14 Singapore Vincent Subramaniam 5 August 2017–14 December 2017
15 Singapore Fandi Ahmad (2) 14 December 2017–31 December 2019
16 Singapore Nazri Nasir 1 January 2020–10 March 2021
17 Singapore Philippe Aw 11 March 2021–31 December 2021
18 Singapore Nazri Nasir (2) 1 January 2022–31 December 2022
19 Singapore Philippe Aw (2) 1 January 2023–18 May 2023
20 Singapore Fadzuhasny Juraimi (interim) 18 May 2023–12 July 2023
21 Singapore Nazri Nasir (3) 13 July 2023–present

Records and statistics

[edit]

As of 8 July 2024.

Top 10 all-time appearances

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

2021–2022

101
Singapore Shahril Ishak 2003–2006
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 Khairul Amri 2004–2008,

2016

79

Top 10 all-time scorers

[edit]
Rank Player Club appearances Total goals
1 Singapore Khairul Amri 79 49
2 Singapore Agu Casmir 34 31
3 Singapore Shahril Ishak 101 20
4 Canada Sherif El-Masri 87 18
Singapore Qiu Li 27
6 Singapore Khairul Nizam 57 15
7 Canada Jordan Webb 39 14
Singapore Shi Jiayi 66
9 Singapore Ilhan Fandi 33 13
10 Singapore Sahil Suhaimi 38 12
  • 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) 3–2 16 June 2024 2024–25 Singapore Premier League
Balestier Khalsa 4–2 14 August 2021 2021 Singapore Premier League
DPMM 3–1 27 July 2024 2024–25 Singapore Premier League
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 3–1 24 August 2024 2024–25 Singapore Premier League
Tampines Rovers 2–1 1 August 2018 2018 Singapore Premier League
Warriors 0–1 8 April 2018 2018 Singapore Premier League

Match brawl

[edit]

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.

References

[edit]
  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. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "Soccer-Singapore's Young Lions get name change, S$1 million". Reuters. 2011-01-27. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  4. ^ "Young Lions snare S$4m sponsorship deal - biggest in S.League history". TODAY. Archived from the original on 2023-04-16. Retrieved 2023-04-16.
  5. ^ "SPL 2023 Transfer Centre Club Guide: Young Lions". Singapore Premier League. 28 January 2023. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Club Profile – Garena Young Lions". S-League. Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
[edit]