Association football, known more popularly as football, is considered the national sport of Singapore. Approximately 49% of the people in Singapore are interested in football. Association football is the most popular sport in Singapore.
The country is home to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the oldest football association in Asia, formed in 1892, based on the Football Association in England (which had been formed in 1863), Singapore having been a British colony at the time (as part of the Straits Settlements).
Despite the country having a relatively small population pool, it has been successful within South-East Asia, both in the Malaysia Cup, a domestic competition in Malaysia, and internationally, in the AFF Championship.
Singapore participated in the Malaysia Cup through a representative team, which came to be called the Singapore Lions in the 1980s and 1990s. The FAS withdrew the Singapore Lions from the Malaysia Cup in 1994. The FAS's LionsXII rejoined Malaysian domestic competition in 2012, winning a league title in 2013 and an FA Cup in 2015.Singapore is Back!. Voxsports.net (12 July 2011). Retrieved 15 August 2011.
Singapore's participation in Malaysian domestic competition ceased after 2015, with the focus of the FAS on Singapore's own domestic leagues, the top tier of which is now known as the Singapore Premier League (SPL).
SPL club Balestier Khalsa FC claim to have been formed in 1898, which would make them not the oldest football club in Singapore, but the oldest football club in South-East Asia, as well as one of the oldest football clubs in all of Asia.
History
Early years
The earliest known football match played in Singapore was in 1889, between two teams of British engineers.History of Singapore Football . Fas.org.sg. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
The Singapore Football Association (SFA), formed in 1892, was exempted from the formal requirements of the Societies Ordinance, as published in the Government Gazette in September that year.
At a meeting of the SFA held in August 1892, a challenge cup was arranged. The Singapore FA Cup continues to be played to this day.
The SFA commenced a league tournament in 1904.History of Singapore Football . Fas.org.sg. Retrieved 15 August 2011. The winners in that first season were Band & Drums (1st Battalion Manchester Regiment). With the exception of 1906 and the interruption of World War I, the league was played every year until the fall of Singapore to Japan in 1942, during World War II. The league resumed after the war, in 1947.
Teams from the British services in Singapore dominated the early years of the league. Apart from the Singapore Cricket Club, ethnically-based teams, the Singapore Chinese Football Association and the Singapore Malay Football Association were the only non-British services teams to win the league before the war. The British services teams also had their own United Services League, which was discontinued in 1957.
On 14 May 1929, the SFA changed its name to the Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA), to distinguish itself from the Selangor Football Association.
An inter-business competition, first started in 1927, was renamed the Singapore Business Houses Football League (SBHFL) in 1937.
Due to the popularity of the SBHFL in the post-war period, a Singapore Business Houses Football Association was formed in 1950.
SAFA became affiliated with FIFA in 1952.
In 1955, the year Singapore first achieved self-governance, the Singapore Government Services Football League (SGSFL) took place for the first time, organised by the Singapore Government Services Football Association. The SGSFL continued to be played until at least 1999.
Post-independence
On 13 January 1966, after the independence of Singapore in 1965, the SAFA changed its name to the Football Association of Singapore (FAS).
When creating the National Football League (NFL) in 1975, N Ganesan, the deputy chairman of the FAS was quoted as saying:
"The idea is not to include the uniform groups or companies in the national league as they have the Government Services and Business Houses competition."
Clubs playing in the SBHFL had to re-form or rename as geographically-based clubs in order to play in the NFL. For example, International Contract Specialst FC was renamed Geylang International FC, going on to win the title in the first three seasons of the NFL (1975, 1976 and 1977).
Nevertheless, the popularity of the SBHFL continued even after the NFL was formed in 1975.
"During the era when the local game's top players were still amateurs, it was not uncommon to see state representatives (in the colonial days) or national players (after independence) turning out for their company teams in the SBHFL which was covered extensively by the newspapers alongside with the main local leagues and the popular Malaya (later Malaysia) Cup tournaments."
After the FAS Premier League was formed in 1988 as the top level of Singapore league football above the NFL, SBHFL teams were not keen on or declined promotion to the FAS Premier League.
However, in the years following the formation of the NFL in 1975, and the FAS Premier League in 1988, the SBHFL gradually lost much of its previous lustre. A rule change in 1994 preventing players from playing for different teams in different leagues over the same period of time also led to the further decline of the SBHFL.
After the original National Stadium was built in Kallang in 1973, the Singapore team played its home games there. The vociferous home support came to be known as the "Kallang Roar". Prior to the National Stadium being built, Singapore had played its home matches at Jalan Besar Stadium, built in 1929.
Goal 2010 was an objective set by then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong in 1998, for the national team to reach the 2010 FIFA World Cup. However, the goal was not met. Singapore has not to date not reached the tournament stage of the FIFA World Cup.
Singapore's international successes have come in the ASEAN Championship, winners in 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2012.
Singapore's national team has qualified for the tournament stage of the AFC Asian Cup twice, as hosts in 1984, and for the 2027 tournament to be held in Saudi Arabia.
Leagues organised by the FAS
By 1974, the FAS League had become unwieldy, with 118 teams playing in a loose three-tier hierarchy.
In 1975, the FAS introduced the National Football League, with 10 top teams in Division 1, and a further 20 teams split between Divisions 2 and 3.
In the 1980s, with the top Singaporean players playing for the Singapore FA or other teams in the Malaysian Semi-Pro Football League and the Malaysia Cup, interest in the domestic league in Singapore dwindled. In an attempt to invigorate the domestic league, the FAS formed the semi-professional FAS Premier League in 1988. The NFL continued as an amateur league below the FAS Premier League. In 1994, two Australian teams played in the FAS Premier League.
In 1996, after the FAS withdrew the Singapore FA from the Malaysia Cup in 1995, the FAS formed the fully professional S. League to replace the FAS Premier League. Invited foreign teams became a regular feature of the S. League.
The Women's Premier League (WPL), the top-flight for women's football league in Singapore, was formed by the FAS in 2000.
In 2018, the S. League was rebranded as the Singapore Premier League (SPL). For the 2026-27 season, the remaining team in the SPL with foreign roots, Albirex Niigata Singapore, became localised as FC Jurong. Earlier, in 2020, the last remaining top flight club linked with Singapore government agencies, Home United, was privated and changed its name to Lion City Sailors.
Since 2025, the Singapore Premier League 2 is the reserve league for SPL clubs. A precursor to SPL2 was the Prime League, for the reserve and youth players of S. League clubs, which was organised by the FAS from 1997 to 2017.
In 1987, the Island Wide League (IWL) was organised by the FAS as several regional grassroots leagues across Singapore., below the NFL. Clubs that had played in the FAS League prior to the formation of the NFL in 1976, and other clubs formed later, thus had the opportunity to play in well run FAS-organised league. There have been several changes in the format of the IWL over the years, including years in which IWL clubs were incorporated as Division 3 of the NFL. The IWL currently operates below the SFL, at the fourth tier of the Singapore football league system.
In 2022, FAS announced that plans to implement video assistant referee (VAR) technology were started since late 2021 and VAR technology will be in use in the near future. In 2023, FAS announced that VAR technology will be used by the SPL for the 2023 Singapore Premier League season.
Other notable domestic leagues
As the leagues organised by the FAS over the years have had as one of their objectives the raising of the standard of football in Singapore, and of the Singapore national team, there have been restrictions on the number of foreign players any club can register or field.
The Cosmopolitan Football League (commonly known as the Cosmo League) was formed in 1975 (the same year that the FAS inaugurated the NFL), to cater for Singapore's growing expat population.
For the 2026-27 season, the Cosmo League has been incorporated into the Equatorial Football League.
Youth and talent development
On 9 March 2021, Singapore launched a national football project called Unleash the Roar!, in line with the goal set by the FAS to qualify for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. On its website, it is described as "a national movement which aims to raise the levels of Singapore football and rally the nation behind a shared dream".
In 2025, former national footballer, Kadir Yahaya was appointed as director of football.
On 6 February 2024, the Singapore Youth League (SYL) was officially launched.
Singapore's participation in Malaysian domestic competitions
A team representing Singapore (nowadays referred to as the Singapore FA) participated in the Malaysia Cup from its inception in 1921. The FAS withdrew Singapore FA from the Malaysia Cup in 1994. Singapore FA achieved 24 honours in that time.
The FAS's LionsXII rejoined Malaysian domestic competition, this time, the Malaysia Super League, between 2012 and 2015. A Singapore team has not participated in Malaysian domestic competition since 2016.
Singaporeans gave good support to Singapore's teams in Malaysian domestic competitions, and the support became synonymous with the "Kallang Roar".
Notable players
Singaporean players Players who played primarily before 2000:
Fandi Ahmad, the first Singapore-born player to have played for a professional European club. Quah Kim Song Dollah Kassim Samad Allapitchay Terry Pathmanathan V. Sundramoorthy S Rajagopal Arshad Kamis David Lee Lim Tong Hai Mohamed Noh Hussein Nazri Nasir Malek Awab
For players who played mainly after 2000, see Singapore players with the most appearances and most goals for the national team.
Foreign players who played for Singapore FA Abbas Saad
National teams The FAS organises the men's, women's and youth national teams.
The men's senior team is the second most successful team in the AFF Championship with 4 titles (1998, 2004, 2007 and 2012). However, Singapore has not won any competitive international title at senior level since 2012.
National youth teams have been and are organised by age group:
Singapore national under-17 football team Singapore national under-20 football team Singapore national under-21 football team Singapore national under-23 football team
The national Under-16 team claimed bronze in the football event of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, and was runner-up for the 23rd Lion City Cup in 2011. The national Under-15 team finished as second runner up in the 2011 Lion City Cup.
The Under-23 team has won the following honours:
Southeast Asian Games