Young Lions Football Club, commonly known as Young Lions, is a developmental football club based in Kallang, Singapore, which competes in the Singapore Premier League. The team is under the control of the Football Association of Singapore.
Young Lions are one of the few football clubs in the world made up of young Singaporean footballers serving their compulsory two-year national service, which places an age restriction on team members while playing in a top-flight professional league. Players are on loan from several local Singapore Premier League clubs, and would spend two years with the side before returning.
Young Lions play their home matches at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Their best league finish was third, which they achieved in 2004 and 2006.
History 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 would see Young Lions play in the Malaysian Super League and Malaysia Cup from 2012. 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.Singapore Lions to participate in 2012 Malaysia Cup – Asia One, 12/07/11 Ultimately, a new team was created, the LionsXII, while the 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.
Foreign players In 2023, Young Lions signed the Japanese duo Jun Kobayashi and Kan Kobayashi from Albirex Niigata (S) becoming the first foreign players since France's Benjamin Bertrand from Tours in 2016. In preparation for the 2024–25 Singapore Premier League season, Young Lions signed two additional Japanese players, Kaisei Ogawa and Itsuki Enomoto, and the Australian Rashid Hayek from Western United, making it the first time the club had five foreigners in the squad. On 28 March 2025, Young Lions recorded their highest ever win during the 2024–25 Singapore Cup fixtures against Albirex Niigata (S) where Kaisei Ogawa became the second players in the club history to score four goals in one match since Zikos Chua against Tanjong Pagar United on 7 August 2022.
After a reshuffle in the Football Association of Singapore seeing Forrest Li as the FAS new president in 2025, Young Lions saw a major overhaul in the club during the 2025–26 season where they signed a new partnership with Denmark manufacturing company Select, ending a deal with Nike after 17 years. The club also got a main sponsor for the front of their jersey with Chinese state-owned automobile company, Dongfeng. Young Lions also went on to sign a few youngsters from Brazil, including Abner Vinicius, Joilson, Lucas Agueiro and Sérgio Mendonça while they loaned a few under-21 foreign players from Lion City Sailors, such as Enrico Walmrath, Harry Spence and Benjamin Žerak. Needing an experience local players in the squad, Young Lions than recruited Izwan Mahbud and Abdil Qaiyyim Mutalib to strengthen the team.
In the 2026–27 season, Young Lions focus their attention on recruiting Japanese players where they would sign Shuya Yamashita, Miyu Sato, Daisuke Sakai, Toi Kagami and Hisatoshi Nishido. The club also signed EFL League Two player Kai Whitmore, who previously played for Newport County. Young Lions than recruited experience local player, Hafiz Nor to strengthen the team midfield.
Stadium
Young Lions have played at the Jalan Besar Stadium since their inception of participating in the S.League. The stadium can hold 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.
Kit suppliers and naming history Young Lions kit was manufactured by local brand Tiger who than collaborate with Italian sportswear Diadora. The club was than sponsor by Japanese brand Maxell. In 2008, Young Lions alongside the Singapore national team kit was than manufactured by Nike. From 2011, Young Lions was sponsored by Courts where the club began to change it name to Courts Young Lions until 2015 where they was than sponsored by Garena thus changing the name to Garena Young Lions until 2017.
In August 2025, Young Lions signed a deal with Danish sportswear Select ending a 17 years contract with Nike. The club also partners with Chinese state-owned automobile company, Dongfeng as the club main sponsor. +PeriodKit manufacturerMain sponsor2003–2007 Tiger (Collaboration with Diadora) Maxell2008–2010 NikeNo sponsors2011–2015 Courts2016–2017 Garena2017–2025No sponsors2025–2026 Select Dongfeng2026–present Adidas +Club name historyYearSponsorsClub nameReferences2011–2015 CourtsCourts Young Lions2016–2017 GarenaGarena Young Lions
Players
First-team squad
'B' squad
The Young Lions B squad compromise players mostly active representing the team in the Singapore Premier League 2
(on loan from Lion City Sailors)
(on loan from Lion City Sailors) (on loan from Lion City Sailors)
Management and staff Position NameTeam manager Sakthi Vel GanesanHead coach Firdaus KassimAssistant coach Fadzuhasny Juraimi Afiq YahyaGoalkeeper coach Ahmadulhaq Che OmarFitness coach Donald WanPhysiotherapist Alex PoonSports trainer Ryan Wang Jasmori RasipEquipment officer Omar Mohamed
Source:
Foreign players history
Craig Foster (1991) Kazeem Babatunde (2003–2004) Vladan Seric (2004) Greg Nwokolo (2005) Moudourou Moise (2006–2008) Daniel Hammond (2008) Obadin Aikhena (2008–2009) Luka Savić (2010) Sirina Camara (2012) Jonathan Toto (2012–2013) Sherif El-Masri (2012–2015) Benjamin Lee (2013) Jordan Webb (2014–2016) Benjamin Bertrand (2016) Jun Kobayashi (2023–2025) Kan Kobayashi (2023–2025) Itsuki Enomoto (2024) Kaisei Ogawa (2024–2025) Rashid Hayek (2024–2025) Abner Vinicius (2025–2026) Sergio Mendonça (2025–2026) Lucas Agueiro (2025–2026) Joilson Lucas (2025–2026) Enrico Walmrath (2025–2026) Harry Spence (2025–2026) Shuya Yamashita (2026–present) Miyu Sato (2026–present) Toi Kagami (2026–present) Daisuke Sakai (2026–present) Hisatoshi Nishido (2026–present)
Internationally capped players AFC/OFC Greg Nwokolo Daisuke Sakai CAF Kazeem Babatunde UEFA
– NIL – CONMEBOL/ CONCACAF Sherif El-Masri
Coaching history +No.Head coachYears1 P. N. Sivaji1 January 2003 – 31 December 20032 Kim Poulsen1 January 2004 – 31 December 20043 Fandi Ahmad1 January 2005 – 31 December 20064 V. Sundramoorthy1 January 2007 – 31 December 20085 Terry Pathmanathan1 January 2009 – 13 January 20106 V. Sundramoorthy (2)14 January 2010 – 31 December 20107 Robin Chitrakar1 January 2011 – 13 January 20138 Aide Iskandar14 January 2013 – 11 June 20159 Jürgen Raab1 July 2015 – 13 January 201610 Richard Tardy1 January 2016 – 15 February 201611 Patrick Hesse15 February 2016 – 9 November 201612 V. Selvaraj9 November 2016 – 17 May 201713 Richard Tardy (2)17 May 2017 – 27 July 201714 Vincent Subramaniam5 August 2017 – 14 December 201715 Fandi Ahmad (2)14 December 2017 – 31 December 201916 Nazri Nasir1 January 2020 – 10 March 202117 Philippe Aw11 March 2021 – 31 December 202118 Nazri Nasir (2)1 January 2022 – 31 December 202219 Philippe Aw (2)1 January 2023 – 18 May 202320 Fadzuhasny Juraimi (interim)18 May 2023 – 12 July 202321 Nazri Nasir (3)13 July 2023 – 16 January 202522 Fadzuhasny Juraimi (interim) (2)16 January 2025 – 25 June 202523 Firdaus Kassim25 June 2025–present
Records and statistics As of 26 May 2026 after the 2025–26 season conclude.
Most appearances +RankPlayerYearsAppearances1 Afiq Yunos2008–20131322 Syahrul Sazali2016–2019 2021–2022101 Shahril Ishak2003–20064 Hariss Harun2007–2011905 Amir Syafiz2021–present886 Syazwan Buhari2010–201587 Amirul Adli2011–2017 Sherif El-Masri2012–20159 Izwan Mahbud2008–2011 2026–present859 Faritz Abdul Hameed2009–201283
Top scorers +RankPlayerAppearancesGoals1 Khairul Amri79492 Agu Casmir34313 Shahril Ishak101204 Sherif El-Masri8718 Qiu Li276 Khairul Nizam57157 Jordan Webb 3914 Shi Jiayi669 Ilhan Fandi3313 Itsuki Enomoto1910 Sahil Suhaimi3812
Team records Biggest wins 7–1 vs Sinchi on 23 September 2004 7–1 vs Albirex Niigata (S) on 28 March 2025 Heaviest Defeats 1–10 vs Lion City Sailors (13 August 2022) Youngest goal scorer Khairin Nadim, 16 years 6 months and 9 days (On 17 November 2020 vs Tampines Rovers) Oldest goal scorer Khairul Amri, 31 years 6 months and 11 days (On 1 April 2023 vs Geylang International) Youngest debutant Raoul Suhaimi, 15 years 7 months 27 days (15 May 2021 vs Albirex Niigata (S))
Notable Hat-tricks Key4Player scored four goals*Opponent was the home team +Notable players to scored a hat-trick for the clubPlayerScoreOpponentDate Agu Casmir7–1Sinchi23 September 2004 Qiu Li5–0Geylang United22 March 2006 Khairul Amri4–2Woodlands Wellington19 May 2006 Qiu Li (2)0–5Balestier Khalsa*7 June 2006 Khairul Amri (2)0–3Sporting Afrique*6 July 2006 Zikos Chua44–2Tanjong Pagar United8 July 2022 Kaisei Ogawa47–1Albirex Niigata (S)28 March 2025
Club captains Position Name2004–2013 TBC2014–2015 Al-Qaasimy Rahman2016 Khairul Amri2017 Shahrin Saberin2018 Taufiq Muqminin2019–2022 Jacob Mahler2023 Harhys Stewart2024–2025 Ryaan Sanizal2025–present Amir Syafiz
Personal awards
Domestic League Young Player of the Year Hariss Harun (2010)
Others
People's Choice Award Agu Casmir (2004) Khairul Amri (2006) Safuwan Baharudin (2011)
Season by season record