Young Lions FC


Young Lions Football Club is a professional football team based in Singapore. The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore, but is managed as a football club and has competed in Singapore's top club competition – the Singapore Premier League – since 2003. 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. Most of the Singaporean members in the Young Lions squad also represent the country in under-23 international tournaments.
The Young Lions play their league matches at the Jurong West Stadium. Their best S.League finish was third, which they achieved in 2004 and 2006.

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. 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.
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 and new players 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.

Performance in domestic competitions

SeasonLeaguePos.PWDLGSGAPtsSingapore CupLeague Cup
2003S.League12th 3361–521337725Quarter-finals
2004S.League3rd271458745247Quarter-finals
2005S.League6th271269443742Quarter-finals
2006S.League3rd301578674352Quarter-finals
2007S.League5th3313812455447PreliminaryWithdrew
2008S.League9th3371016304631Semi-finalsSemi-finals
2009S.League8th309714334834PreliminaryGroup stage
2010S.League9th3391212374534Semi-finalsPreliminary
2011S.League9th337620335427WithdrewWithdrew
2012S.League10th246513253723WithdrewGroup stage
2013S.League12th 275319205218PreliminaryGroup stage
2014S.League10th277515385426WithdrewWithdrew
2015S.League9th277614304327WithdrewWithdrew
2016S.League9th 24231923709PreliminaryWithdrew
2017S.League9th 24132010626WithdrewWithdrew
2018Singapore Premier League7th245613254621Withdrew

Past coaches

YearCoach
1 January 2009 – 31 December 2010V. Sundramoorthy
1 January 2011 – December 2012Robin Chitrakar
14 January 2013 – 11 June 2015Aide Iskandar
July 2015 – 31 December 2015 Jürgen Raab
1 January 2016 – 15 February 2016 Richard Tardy
15 February 2016 – 9 November 2016 Patrick Hesse
9 November 2016 – 17 May 2017V. Selvaraj
17 May 2017 – 5 July 2017 Richard Tardy
5 July 2017 – 14 December 2017Vincent Subramaniam
14 December 2017 – 31 December 2019Fandi Ahmad
1 January 2020 –Nazri Nasir

Current coaching staff

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