Association football, known more popularly as football, is the national sport of Singapore. The sport reached its peak in the 1980s and 1990s during the Singapore Lions' participation in the Malaysia Cup, where they dominated the competition. Singapore is home to the Football Association of Singapore, the oldest football association in Asia with its roots coming from The Football Association in England. The national teams include the men's, women's and youth. The Singapore Lions, the team which plays in the Malaysia Cup, is not counted due to the team being more like a club, since there is the allowance of foreign players or transfers in the team, and the Malaysia Cup being a club competition among Malaysian states and Singapore. Singapore left the Malaysia Cup in 1994 and came back in 2012. The current champions of Singapore in football is Brunei DPMM.
History
The first football match in Singapore were between two teams of British engineers in 1889. The Singapore Amateur Football Association, under its current name Football Association of Singapore, was formed in 1892 by a group of British in colonial Singapore.
Competitions
Singapore's Football League System
League system
Professional league
The Singapore Premier League is a professional league for men's association football clubs in Singapore, governed by the Football Association of Singapore. The semi-professional FAS Premier League was replaced by the professional S.League in 1996 when Singapore FA left the Malaysia Cup in 1994, due to disputes with the Football Association of Malaysia. The league adopted its current name in 2018. Although the SPL is the highest level of domestic football competition in Singapore, it fails to attract supporters, with the dwindling attendees to matches and television view ratings. The FAS has invited foreign clubs to participate in the league, in attempt to increase competitiveness and attract more fans. There is no promotion and relegation in the current Singapore football league system. The reserves team of the SPL clubs compete in the Prime League formed in 1997. Since its inception in 1996, seven clubs have been crowned champions. Geylang United claim the first league title. Warriors FC hold the most with nine. In 2010, Étoile FC became the first foreign side to win the competition.
The Singapore National Football League, or more commonly known as the NFL is a semi-professional competition organised for football clubs which are affiliated with the Football Association of Singapore, FAS which was previously known as the Singapore Amateur Football Association, SAFA. It was the premier football league of Singapore until the FAS premier league was formed in 1988. The history of NFL can be traced back to as earl as the early 20th century.
Singapore Island Wide League
Cosmopolitan Football League
The Singapore Cosmopolitan Football League was founded in the year 1975 by soccer section members of the Singapore Cricket Club. It is currently the longest standing amateur football league in Singapore with many ex-professional football players coming to take part in the league. It is also a league for expatriate players in Singapore who are not involved in top league such as the S.League and the NFL.
Equatorial Football League
Equatorial Football League is a multi-national amateur football league founded in 2006. The Primary objective of the league is to build an integrated and cohesive society, to promote youth development. Just like the Cosmoleague, the league consists of expatriate amateur footballers and most of the clubs participating in the league are also participating in the Cosmoleague. The league was sanctioned by Football Association of Singapore and mainly played on private properties pitches.
ESPZEN
ESPZEN is a football organisation affiliated to the Football Association of Singapore founded by an English banker Lee Taylor back in the early 2000s. It is dedicated to revolutionising the amateur football scene in Singapore and is currently the biggest amateur football league in Singapore with over 4000 players and over 180 teams. Its main categories are the Sunday League, Saturday League and Midweek League. It also organises the veteran league, junior league and the ESPZEN futsal league. It is one of the top amateur football league in Singapore together with the Cosmo League and it also has a significant number of ex-professional football players taking part in the tournament. It is also regarded by many to be the most well organised and systematic amateur football league in Singapore. All the clubs which took part in the league are amateur clubs whereby they have to be registered by the organisation and be approved to be able to take part in the league. The rules of promotion and relegation only apply through the divisions within the ESPZEN and top team do not promote to the Island Wide League or the NFL. However several teams such as the SCC Tigers and TGA Football Club have taken part not just in ESPZEN but also in the Cosmo League simultaneously through different section under the same club.
Joining the Malaysia Cup in 1921, known as the Malaya Cup at that time, Singapore were the champions of the inaugural competition. They would further succeed in getting 24 titles for themselves during their time in the competition from 1921 to 1994, a span of 74 years. In this competition, and the Malaysia league, Singapore submitted a representative team, which operated like a football club more than a national football team. It was called the Singapore FA in the country's 74 years in Malaysian football. The competition helped bring the likes of Fandi Ahmad and Dollah Kassim, with the former being the only Singaporean to have played for European clubs – he played for FC Groningen and OFI Crete.
