The Singapore Football League (SFL) is a league of senior football clubs from Singapore that are affiliated with the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Founded in 1975, it was the top-level football league in Singapore from its foundation until 1988, when it was replaced by the FAS Premier League.
It now makes up the second and third tier of football in Singapore after the fully professional Singapore Premier League (SPL), which was established in 1996 as the S.League and had also replaced the FAS Premier League. Teams in the SFL are eligible to compete in the Singapore FA Cup but are not able to be promoted to the SPL, as the latter does not practice a promotion and relegation system.
Although largely amateur, several of the clubs that play in the league are described as semi-professional. Several former national team and ex-S.League players have played in the league such as Jonathan Xu, Indra Sahdan Daud, Precious Emuejeraye and Ahmad Latiff (Eunos Crescent), Yazid Yasin (Gymkhana) and Zulkiffli Hassim (Yishun Sentek Mariners).
The current season started later in the year (2026) and for the first time will continue into the following year (2027) to bring it in line with the Singapore Premier League.
History
League football in Singapore dates back to 1904.
In 1975, the National Football League was formed when the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) revamped the existing league structure involving 118 teams into a three-tier league with 30 teams.
For the 1987 season, the teams play each other once in a league format. The top eight placed teams in the league progressed to a knock-out stage to determine the champions. League stage winners Tiong Bahru defeated 4th-placed Tampines Rovers 2–1 in the final to clinch the championship. The top tier of the football league system was replaced by the FAS Premier League between 1988 and 1995.
In 1996, FAS created the S.League, a professional league, which was again revamped to the Singapore Premier League (SPL) in 2018. Since then, the NFL made up provisional tiers 2 and 3, behind the professional SPL, with rules of promotion and relegation applied for teams in NFL Division One and NFL Division Two but not into the SPL. Teams play two-round league home-away format. League features promotions and relegations for all the teams in both divisions, where the top two teams of a division will be promoted to the upper division, and the last two relegated to the lower division.
In 2016, NFL was changed to a single division with 10 teams. On 17 January 2017, FAS announced that the 2017 season would comprise two divisions with 12 teams playing in each division. As 2016 IWL clubs will be playing in the Division Two, there will be no IWL for 2017. Prior to the announcement, the clubs were already informed in September 2016.
In 2020, the NFL was renamed as the Singapore Football League (SFL). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first season of the revamped SFL was delayed to 2022.
Division one clubs as of 2026-27
Bishan Barx Jungfrau Punggol Police SA Project Vaults Oxley SC Singapore Cricket Club South Avenue SC Singapore Khalsa Association Tengah
Division 2 clubs as of 2026-27
Admiralty CSN GDT Circuit (Pink Roses) GFA Victoria FC (formerly GFA Sporting Westlake) Gymkhana Gaulois Kaki Bukit SC Katong FC Starlight Soccerites Tanah Merah United Warwick Knights Yishun Mariners
Active Island Wide League clubs* as of 2025
Admiralty City* (est. 2025) Ayer Rajah Gryphons Bedok South Avenue SC Bukit Timah FC (formerly Bukit Timah Juniors)(The Northern Stallions) Commonwealth Cosmos East Dragon FC* Eastern Thunder (formerly Admiralty) Geylang Serai Gymkhana Mattar Sailors Pasirian Lions (Viva Lions) Sembawang City* (est. 2024) (The Otters) Simei United (The Sabres) Singapore Xin Hua Tanah Merah United (The Oryx) Tessensohn Khalsa Rovers Verde Cresta Combined SC Winchester Isla Woodlands Lions* Woodlands Rangers Yishun (The Northern Pride)
Former clubs Siglap Admiralty Rangers Boon Keng SRC Woodlands United Woodlands Warriors Marsiling Causeway Bay (The Wildcats) (2022–2023) Prison SRC (2018–2023) Balestier United RC (-2024) East Coast United (-2024) Eunos Crescent (-2024) Jungfrau Punggol 'B' (2024) Sembawang Park Rangers (formerly GFA Victoria) (2022–2024) Singapore Recreational Club (2024)
Past champions
NFL Division 1 SeasonWinners1975Geylang International1976Geylang International1977Geylang International1978SAFSA1979Tampines Rovers1980Tampines Rovers1981SAFSA1982Farrer Park United1983Tiong Bahru CSC1984Tampines Rovers1985Police SA1986SAFSA1987Tiong Bahru CSC1988Tyrwhitt Soccerites2006Admiralty FC2007Admiralty FC2009Singapore Cricket Club2010Singapore Cricket Club2011Singapore Recreation Club2012Singapore Recreation Club2013Police SA2014Sporting Westlake FC2015Singapore Recreation Club2016Eunos Crescent2017Yishun Sentek Mariners2018Tiong Bahru2019Tiong Bahru 2020 rowspan='2' 20212022Singapore Khalsa Association2023Singapore Khalsa Association2024Singapore Khalsa Association2025 Singapore Cricket Club2026-27
NFL Division 2 SeasonWinners1982Cairnhill1983Geylang International1984South Avenue1987Tyrwhitt Soccerites2002Katong FC2006Eunos Crescent2007West United2008Singapore Cricket Club2009Prisons SRC2010Borussia Zamrud2011Keppel Monaco FC2012Admiralty FC2013Singapore Khalsa Association2014Yishun Sentek Mariners2015Singapore Cricket Club2016rowspan='1' 2017Gymkhana FC2018Singapore Khalsa Association2019Project Vault Oxley2020rowspan='2' 20212022Jungfrau Punggol2023Police SA2024Tengah FC2025Bishan Barx FC2026-27
NFL Division 3 SeasonWinners1975Cairnhill1982Punggol CSC1984Mountbatten1986Singapore Chinese2001Katong FC2006Kaki Bukit2007Tiong Bahru2010Balestier United RC20112012Gambas Avenue SC2013Starlight Soccerites
Island Wide League SeasonWinners1991Wellington FC1999Singapore Recreation Club 2007 - Cresecent Villa2010Sporting Westlake2011Siglap CSC2012Vipers FC2013Yishun Sentek Mariners 2014Kembangan United2015South Avenue2016SAFSA2017 2018Project Vault Oxley2019 Commonwealth Cosmos 2020 rowspan='2' 20212022 Xin Hua FC2023 Bedok South Avenue SC2024 GDT Circuit FC2025 Gymkhana FC2026 Tiong Bahru
Note:
Champions
Titles by club +NFL Division 1ClubWinnersWinning yearsGeylang International31975, 1976, 1977Tampines Rovers31979, 1980,1984SAFSA31978, 1981, 1986Singapore Recreation Club32011, 2012, 2015Singapore Khalsa Association32022, 2023, 2024Tiong Bahru CSC21983, 1987Admiralty FC22006, 2007Singapore Cricket Club22009, 2025Tiong Bahru FC22018, 2019Farrer Park United11982Police SA11985Tyrwhitt Soccerites11988Eunos Crescent12016Yishun Sentek Mariners12017 +NFL Division 2ClubWinnersWinning yearsSingapore Cricket Club22008, 2015Cairnhill11982Geylang International11983South Avenue11984Tyrwhitt Soccerites11987Katong12002Eunos Crescent12006West United12007Prisons SRC12009Admiralty FC12012Yishun Sentek Mariners12014Gymkhana12017Singapore Khalsa Association12018Project Vault Oxley12019Jungfrau Punggol12022Police FA12023Tengah FC12024
Stadium
Vacant stadiums used
Bedok Stadium Bukit Gombak Stadium Choa Chu Kang Stadium Clementi Stadium Woodlands Stadium Yishun Stadium
Current Singapore Premier League clubs stadium used
Hougang Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium Toa Payoh Stadium
See also FAS Premier League Singapore Premier League Singapore FA Cup Singapore League Cup Prime League List of football clubs in Singapore List of Singapore's football leagues winners Singapore football league system
References