[Event] Virtual Footballers Get Their Shot at Premiership Stardom

(This message is brought to you by Strategic Public Relations Group [SPRG], the coordinating agency for this clinic)

Christmas will come early for players of the popular online computer game, EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2, as they stand a chance to apply their virtual football skills to the real pitch in a football clinic conducted by ex-Barclays Premier League manager, Phil Brown along with Liverpool legends Jason McAteer and Steve McMahon.

Organised by IAHGames, in collaboration with football scouting web portal, ScoutForAll, a total of two football clinics will be held in Singapore and Malaysia.

This is a unique kind of talent scouting event targeting at those avid gamers to see if they have what it takes to transform their capabilities in the virtual world into real footballing skills on the pitch.

The first clinic is scheduled for 7 December 2010 in Singapore at The Premier Pitch, and the second clinic is slated for 10 December 2010 in Kuala Lumpur. 40 lucky gamers shall be selected to attend each clinic.

“Our role as an operator of online games does not stop at delivering an engaging product. We aim to provide the most holistic football experience for the gaming community, be it in the virtual or real world.

"For instance, we cater to our rabid football fans by organising regular futsal tournaments. Thus, this series of clinics with Phil Brown is the latest feather in our cap. I’m sure our gamers are excited and ready to impress the gaffer,” said Jonathon Sze, General Manager of EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2, IAHGames.

Ex-Hull City manager Phil Brown (pictured above) will be conducting the clinic ("Prt-Scr" from IAHGames's FIFAONLINE2 website)

Each clinic will last for four hours in which Brown will help transform the digital dazzlers into real life football wizards. Helping him put the players through the paces will be Liverpool legend, Steve McMahon, and ex-Republic of Ireland international, Jason McAteer.

Areas of focus include individual skills such as technique, passing and shooting; and team drills including teamwork and tactics. In addition, scouts from ScoutForAll will be in attendance to monitor the players’ progress and guide them on their first step towards a potential professional football career.

According to the organizers, these scouts in attendance will be filming video footage of the participants during the clinic and load them up onto their website and hope that these participants will be scouted eventually, thus given them an opportunity to advance their football career.

Liverpool legend, Steve McMahon (file pictured above) will be part of coaching panel of this clinic

The 80 participants for the two clinics shall be randomly picked from a pool of qualified registrants.

In order to qualify for these clinics, players need to register a ScoutForAll PROChamp account and an EA SPORTS™ FIFA Online 2 account. Each gamer can only attend one clinic.

REGISTRATION IS ONGOING NOW!!

For registration and more information, please visit http://fifaonline2.iahgames.com/liveyourdreams/index.html.

[EVENT] Nike Shout Connects Football Enthusiasts to Live Pitch Action At the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010

(The content of this entry is obtained via the transcript provided by Integrated Marketing Solutions Group [IMSG] - the PR agency for Nike Singapore)

(P.S: The copyrights of the video, images depicted in this blog entry belong to Nike, unless stated.)

Singapore (November 30, 2010) – For the first time, Nike allows football fans to be heard, loud and proud, at the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup 2010 games. Debuting at the games, Nike SHOUT is the region’s first digital LED perimeter board that serves to capture and amplify the football moments on pitch via social media, connecting Southeast Asian fans at home and across the region to the players on the pitch, live with their messages of support.

As part of the “Be the Next” campaign, Nike SHOUT is targeted at local youth footballers to inspire them to show their support for their national teams and strengthen their drive to be part of that team someday. Enthusiasts can post their words of encouragement and support and see their messages live on pitch during the AFF Suzuki Cup season which starts 1 December 2010.

Singapore is one of four ASEAN countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) activating the exchange via social media platforms – Twitter and Facebook. Official launch of the platforms commence 29 November 2010 and messages aggregated between the official launch date and the first live match will be selectively streamed on the Digital LED perimeter board on 1 December 2010 to support their national teams. Directions on use per platform outlined below.

A Youtube clip that captures the making of Nike SHOUT

Twitter Platform

1. Log in to personal Twitter account as a registered user
2. Type message in the following format @nikesingapore #nikeshout (message max 40 character)* sender’s name
   

Fans can post their words of encouragement from the period starting 29 November 2010 until the final match on 29 December 2010.

Facebook Platform

1. Log in to personal Facebook account as a registered user
2. Enter Nike Football (insert country) page to access the newly created Nike SHOUT** tab to post their messages
3. Submit messages of encouragement via dialogue box on Nike SHOUT tab in the following format @nike(insert country) #nikeshout (message)*
4. Fans can also view live streaming of the messages from the pitch via the video player box on the Nike SHOUT tab

Fans who choose to use the Nike SHOUT app via Facebook (as "prt-scr" above) will be able to send their message of support from 29 November 2010 – 1 December 2010 and thereafter, one hour before the match and one hour post match time. The Nike SHOUT tab will be closed outside the stipulated time and fans are encouraged to continue voicing their support via Twitter.

*only posts submitted in the following format will be recognized and selected for live streaming on the Twitter perimeter board at the games

**the Nike SHOUT tab is only available to fans who ‘liked’ the Nike Football Singapore page**

Breaking new ground with bit of Portuguese flair

Albirex Niigata (Singapore)'s chairman chairman Mr Daisuke Korenaga (pictured above left) with a CBF representative during the ceremony that announced the partnership between the two sides (picture credit: Albirex Niigata (Singapore))

With the vision to see itself as a stepping stone for its players to play professional football in Europe, S.League club Albirex Niigata (Singapore) recently inked a partnership deal with Portuguese club side Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (CBF).

Under the terms of the agreement between the two, Albirex (S) will send one or two players to CFB for a two-week trial annually.

CFB will in-turn have the priority to sign these players should any of them meets the club’s requirements with 20-year-old midfielder Tatsuro Inui will be the first player to attend such trial scheduled from 6 Dec.

In a statement released by the club, chairman Mr Daisuke Korenaga said: “We are very proud and honoured to have Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses , a club rich in history and success in Portuguese football, as our partner.

"The partnership would spur our players in Singapore to perform well so that they can get the chance to go on to the bigger stage in Europe.

This partnership would also help us to recruit quality players in Japan to come to play in Singapore, thus improving the standard of play in the S.League.”

According to club manager Mr Koh Mui Tee, the points illustrated by Korenaga should serve as a motivation to inspire players to perform better on the field, while added this first of its kind club-to-club collaboration in Singapore football is solely between the J-League club's feeder side and CBF.

"(Our) parent club (Albirex Niigata) is aware of our partnership agreement with Belenenses but they are not involved in the setting up and negotiation stages." added Koh.

Raddy announces final squad of 22 for AFF Suzuki Cup

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)

SINGAPORE, 26 November 2010: National Coach Radojko Avramovic (pictured above center) has called up his final 22 ahead of the AFF Suzuki Cup as the Lions gear up to reclaim the AFF Cup for an unprecedented fourth time, having won the region’s most prestigious tournament in 1998, 2004 and 2007.

Coach Radojko has picked an experience side with a vast majority of the players featuring in previous AFF Cup competitions. The last player who failed to make the cut was Home Untied’s Tengku Mushadad.

“I'm looking at the positions and who can cover which position and in the end, Tengku is the one (to miss out). He tried very hard, and I am thankful for that, but maybe his time is not now. Maybe in the future he will have more opportunities with the National Team,” said Avramovic.

Most notably, Hariss Harun has been ruled out of the biennial tournament for the second time after sustaining a fractured fibula at the Asian Games earlier this month. Despite an initial injury scare this month, Home United custodian Lionel Lewis has been declared fit to feature in his third consecutive AFF Cup tournament.

Drawn in Group B, Singapore will open their campaign against Philippines on Thursday, 2 December before playing Myanmar on Sunday, 5 December. The Lions will take on co-host Vietnam in their final group on Wednesday, 8 December. Group A features co-hosts Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos, and Thailand.

THE FINAL 22

Full Name	Position	Club / Country	Caps	Goals
Lionel Lewis	GK	Home United	68	0
Hassan Sunny	GK	Tampines Rovers	29	0
Izwan Mahbud	GK	Young Lions	0	0
Juma'at Jantan	DF	Home United	15	0
Rosman Sulaiman	DF	Home United	9	0
Baihakki Khaizan	DF	Persib Bandung (INA)	75	2
Precious Emuejeraye	DF	Persija Jakarta (INA)	54	0
Daniel Bennett	DF	SAFFC	95	6
Afiq Yunos	DF	Young Lions	2	0
Safuwan Baharudin	DF	Young Lions	3	0
Noh Rahman	DF/MF	SAFFC	74	0
Ridhuan Muhamad	MF	Arema (INA)	58	3
Isa Halim	MF	Home United	30	0
Mustafic Fahrudin	MF	Persela Lamongan (INA)	51	6
Shahril Ishak	MF	Persib Bandung (INA)	79	5
Shahdan Sulaiman	MF	Tampines Rovers	1	0
Noh Alam Shah	FW	Arema (INA)	77	35
Masrezwan Masturi	FW	Geylang United	22	2
Fazrul Nawaz	FW	Gombak United	42	3
Khairul Amri	FW	Persiba Balikpapan (INA)	62	9
Agu Casmir	FW	Persija Jakarta (INA)	33	12
Aleksandar Duric	FW	Tampines Rovers	29	12

GOOD LUCK, LIONS!!

Lions thrash Laos in their Suzuki Cup prep

Singapore beat Laos 4-0 in their preparation for the Suzuki Cup in the Jurong West Stadium before heading up to Vietnam this Sunday.

Ace striker Noh Alam Shah scored before the end of the first half, Agu Casmir (pictured above) netted a double with Gombak United's Fazrul Nawaz scored on his home ground to seal the win.

The only blip is the injury to Ridhuan Muhamad that forced the winger to be replaced midway of the game.

(thanks to Mr Gary Koh for this update)

Singapore to meet Laos in friendly

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)



SINGAPORE, 24 November 2010: Singapore will take on Laos at the Jurong West Stadium on Friday 26 November at 7.30pm.

The Lions have been stepping up their preparation for the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup in Hanoi, Vietnam next month and Friday's match will be an ideal opportunity for coach Radojko Avramovic (pictured above) to put his players through their paces.

"Everyday we have been working on the shape of the team and trying to adopt different styles of play in our game. This match (against Laos) will provide us with a good opportunity to work on some of these areas especially if we have to change our play during the upcoming games in Hanoi," said Avramovic.

Singapore is in Group B together with Philippines, Myanmar and co-hosts Vietnam while Laos is in Group A alongside Malaysia, Thailand and co-hosts Indonesia.

Singapore will kick-off their Suzuki Cup challenge on 2 December when they meet Philippines at the My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.

Match Details
Match: Singapore vs Laos

Date: Friday 26 November 2010
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: Jurong West Stadium

Ticketing Information
Category SGD$

Adult 6.00

*Child / Senior Citizen 2.00

*Child applies to Primary /Secondary / JC / ITE with proof of identification.

*Senior Citizen applies to aged 60 and above with proof of identification.

Tickets will be sold at the Jurong West Stadium from 6.00pm on Friday 26 November 2010 and are priced at S$6.00 for Adults and S$2.00 for students up to JC/ITE with valid concession passes and Senior Citizens aged 60 and above.

CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE

24 November 2010

[Event] "East meets West" - Fundraising Football Match [CLOSED]

(The following message is brought to you by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, the coordinating agency for this event.)

The Disabled People's Association (DPA), in collaboration with the Celebrities Sports Club and International Football Commentators is organising a football match to honour the 2010 International Day of People with Disabilities(IDPD) and raise funds for the advocacy work of the DPA. IDPD is commemorated yearly in over 100 countries. It is a day to reflect on the challenges faced by people with disabilities whilst they pursue their goals and to celebrate their triumphs.

On 27 November 2010, the 'East' will challenge the 'West' to a friendly, but competitive game of football for a worthy cause. The match will be held at Jalan Besar Stadium where some 3000 people are expected to attend and cheer on the two celebrity teams, including many media personalities and corporate leaders. The sport commentator at the match will be our very own veteran deejay, Daniel Ong.

Various celebrities with present and former players with the likes of actors Randall Tan, Zheng Gepeng alongside with two former Lions skippers - Lim Tong Hai and Aide Iskandar will be part of the "East" team taking on the "West" team led by two former England World Cuppers - Paul Parker and Steven McMahon with media personalities PJ Roberts and Paul Masefield.

The "West" team is further boasted in strength with the inclusion of present Singapore defender Daniel Bennett and star midfielder John Wilkinson.

MATCH DETAILS
EVENT:	"East meets West" - Fundraising Football Match
DATE	27th November 2010
VENUE:	JALAN BESAR STADIUM
KICK-OFF:	3.00pm

Get your tickets ONLINE through Gatecrash OR at the following outlets

• All Singpost outlets
• S.A.M kiosks
• "Substation" Box Office
  

For more information about the Ticketing and Sponsorship, please click here.

For other details of this fundraising match, please click here for more details.

They all want to "BE THE NEXT" Lions...

National team manager Eugene Loo (pictured above, third from the right) in his opening address to the experience sharing session between the Lions and the YOG Cubs.

Three YOG cubs - Ammirul Emmran, Dhukhilan Jeevamani and skipper Jeffrey Lightfoot got up close and personal with Lions stars - Aleksandar Duric, Baihakki Khaizan, Fazrul Nawaz, Ridhuan Muhamad in "BE THE NEXT" - another initiative by NIKE, the national jersey provider at the sporting giants' flagship outlet at Wisma Atria.

Veteran striker Aleksandar Duric (first from left) shares his experiences with YOG team skipper Jeffrey Lightfoot (on extreme right) with Loo and defender Baihakki Khaizan look on.

"Be The Next" is a campaign specifically targeted at local youth footballers, inspiring them to live their dreams and become the next great footballer of the nation.

The campaign also aims to ignite a sense of national pride that encourages the youth's support for the national team to be the next champion, a goal the national team will certainly be looking to achieve during the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup tournament this December.

National Team manager Eugene Loo and the Lions emphasised the importance of working hard to achieve the ultimate success, while Loo added that football is a good way to help the youngsters to stay focused and keep them away from any astray activity.

Two Indonesian-based Lions, Ridhuan Muhamad and Baihakki Khaizan also shared their experience playing outside Singapore.

Ridhuan (pictured left) presenting the new Lions jersey to YOG's Ammirul Emmran

"In order to play for your country and overseas, the ability to self-motivate yourself should start from a young age as it's important to keep motivate oneself to go far ahead." said Arema Malang winger Ridhuan in his sharing session with the YOG boys.

Baihakki switched to Persib Bandung from fierce rivals Persija in the close season of ISL.

"When I was young, I am someone who is lacking of confidence and would always follow what the senior players do, but now playing in the Indonesian League where expectation is high and demanding that it does helps in building up that self-belief in starting any big game." said Baihakki, who is now playing his second season in the Indonesian League.

In conjunction with the regional marquee tournament - the AFF Suzuki Cup, the championship trophy was also in display in the flagship store.

With all event participants hoisting up the trophy for this photo opportunity (hope it'll be ours this time round again).

And the urge to regain the regional supremacy is clearly reflected in Baihakki's words.

"I think we need to do something about it after we missed out during the Asian Cup Qualifiers.

"Also it's been a while we last won something major and we believe we should be able to and have the confidence to win something and personally, I hope we can win the Suzuki Cup." concluded the 26-year-old defender.

INFORMATION AND SALE DETAILS OF THE NEW SINGAPORE NATIONAL TEAM JERSEY (extracted from Nike's press release)

The Lions are set to roar in style with brand new environmentally-friendly and technologically-advanced national team kits presented by Nike for the coming Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup – AFF Suzuki Cup 2010.

The Lions will now get to wear the same type of jersey made entirely from recycled polyester with eight recycled plastic bottles going into each jersey.

These environmentally-friendly kits first made a resounding debut at this year’s World Cup, which saw teams such as Brazil and the Netherlands take to the pitch in South Africa wearing the most environmentally-friendly and technologically-advanced kit in football's history.

The Lions will take to the field in kits with exciting new designs that are symbolic and inspirational to the team. The Home kit uses the colour red, representing universal brotherhood and equality of men. This season, the distinct design is a dual-tone red jersey, giving a fresh look to the designs of the past while retaining the traditional color that Singaporean fans easily identify their team in.

The Away kit is a throwback to historic jerseys of the past, reminding players how far they have progressed over the years. Using the classic colour blue, which was the first choice colour for the jerseys in the 1970s and 1980s, the blue Away kit reflects Singapore’s identity as an island city surrounded by tranquil waters.

Replicas of the National Team Kits are available at the Nike Wisma Flagship store, Nike Vivo City, Nike Suntec City, Weston Queensway and Goal@Somerset 313 from November 12, 2010. Each jersey costs SGD 79.00.

FOR MORE PICTURE OF "BE THE NEXT", PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Shahril is the toast of the town at the "Awards Night"

This year's S.League Awards Night was held at the St James Power House (a nice shift again from their traditional venue from the Mediacorp theatre).

To cap his inspiring performance for his former club Home United before his departure to Indonesian League, national skipper Shahril Ishak is named as the Player of the Year, on top of the "Goal of the Year" accolade he received earlier in the evening.

Coach Vorawan's daughter Parawan (pictured above right) received the award on her dad's behalf, posing for this shot with presenter Mediacorp artiste Rebecca Lim.

Despite the agony of losing both league title and Singapore Cup by slim margin, Tampines Rovers' coach Vorawan Chitavanich is being awarded his third "Coach of the Year" award for his effort this season.

While the first award of the night - "Young Player of the Year" was given to national midflelder Hariss Harun (pictured above while receiving the award on the stage).

OTHER MAJOR AWARDS WINNERS

FAN CLUB OF THE YEAR - ALBIREX NIIGATA (SINGAPORE)
Albirex Niigata (Singapore) upset the perennial favourites, SAFFC to win the " Fan Club of the Year" award (pictured above with two representative in Japanese kimono posing radio DJ Jean Danker).

REFEREE OF THE YEAR - ABAS DAUD
Referee Committee Chairman Mr Jeffrey Beh (pictured above) danced his way up to receive the award on Abas Daud's behalf, as he was the one "who sent him overseas (to officiate a match)."

HONOURING THE GOAL-KINGS
Tampines Rovers and Lions striker Aleksandar Duric (pictured above left) ended the season by scoring his 307th S.League career goal and is duly awarded with a commemorative trophy to mark this unique achievement.

While his former SAFFC team-mate, Noor Ali (pictured above right) joined the exclusive "centurions" club by scoring his 100th as well this S.League which he quipped, "It took me 15 years to score 100 goals" during a chat with the media.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE - SHAHRIL JANTAN
SAFFC's custodian and captain Shahril Jantan (pictured above right) was named the "Yeo's" People's Choice for gathered the highest number of votes during the polling period (posing the picture with Mediacorp artiste Ann Kok).

TOP SCORER OF THE YEAR - FRED MENDY
Fred Mendy was the League Champions Etoile FC's only representative on the winners' list as he went up on stage to collect the season's top scorer's award from presenter Mediacorp artiste Adam Chen.

FOR MORE PICTURES FROM THE AWARDS NIGHT, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Untuk Bangsa Dan Negara - Countdown to Suzuki Cup

Coach Raddy (in white T-shirt) briefing the players.

With the regional crown jewel - AFF Suzuki Cup, just around the corner, the National Team get down to business as soon as the domestic S.League completed its 2010 fixtures.

At their usual Geylang Field training base, the Lions are being grouped together with those plying their trade in the Indonesian Super League (ISL)under the watchful eyes of Coach Raddy Avramovic who is assisted by former internationals Robin Chitrakar, Lee Bee Seng (goalkeeper coach) and sports trainer Aleksandar Bozenko.

The ISL based Lions (second from left to right) : Shahril Ishak, Mustafic Fahrudin, Baihakki Khaizan, Ridhuan Muhamad.

Another ISL-based star - striker Noh Alam Shah (in foreground) in full alert.

The Lions will begin their Suzuki Cup campaign on the 2nd of December against the Philippines at Hanoi, prior to that I was informed details of the scheduled friendly before heading to Vietnam is to be finalized, stay tuned...

FOR MORE PICTURES FROM THIS TRAINING SESSION, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Here are the nominees .... [edited]

(Complied with information from media release by the Football Association of Singapore)

No surprise as notable performers are being nominated for the various awards at the annual S.League Awards Nite to be held at St James Power House this coming Sunday (21st November).

League's top scorer Etoile FC's striker Fred Mendy's (pictured above) name is the nomination lists for both Player and Young Player of the Year awards.

Having coached his team to the title on its first season, Etoile's Patrick Vallee will face stiff challenge from fellow debutante?Lee Lim Saeng of Home United, as well as former winners Richard Bok of SAFFC and Stags' Vorawan Chitavanich with dark horse Darren Stewart from Gombak United for the Coach of the Year award.

Awards regular Tampines Rovers' evergreen Aleksandar Duric with another veteran Md Noor Ali of Woodlands Wellington will also be honoured on the same evening for hitting the milestone of 300 goals and 100 goals respectively in the recent concluded season.

The three nominees (L-R): Edwin Lee of "Assistant Referee of the Year", Shahril Ishak (Player of the Year), Taisuke Akiyoshi (Young Player of the Year)

Despite plying his trade in Indonesia now, national skipper Shahril Ishak's sparkingly form should not be forgotten as the former Protector is vying for the prestigious Player of the Year award.

In honour for his distinguished contribution to local football, a special award will be presented to the late "Raja Gelek" Mr Dollah Kassim, who passed away recently.

NOMINATION LISTS FOR THE MAIN AWARDS

GREAT EASTERN Player of the Year
The 4 nominees are:
1. Frederic Mendy (Etoile FC)
2. Shahril Ishak (Home United FC)
3. Aleksandar Duric (Tampines Rovers FC
4. Hassan Sunny (Tampines Rovers FC)

YEO’S Young Player of the Year
The 5 nominees are:
1. Frederic Mendy (Etoile FC)
2. Mamadou Diallo (Sengkang Punggol FC)
3. Taisuke Akiyoshi (Singapore Armed Forces FC)
4. Shahdan Sulaiman (Tampines Rovers FC)
5. Hariss Harun (Young Lions)

MIKASA Coach of the Year
The 5 nominees are:
1. Patrick Vallee (Etoile FC)
2. Darren Stewart (Gombak United FC)
3. Lee Lim Saeng (Home United FC)
4. Richard Bok (Singapore Armed Forces FC)
5. Vorawan Chitavanich (Tampines Rovers FC)

[Feature] Any day, Any time - FICO will be there...

(Pictured above) The first sight of FICO premises, where I first met Arief of "Lions All The Way" at this car park.

Located at one obscure corner of Jurong West, one would not necessarily take a second look at this building if one would drive or walk past this site.

However, as a saying goes - never judge a book by its cover, it would be unfair to pass any judgement without step into "FICO Sports Hub" to see what it has to offer.

The heat resistant shelters shield the players from the scorching heat.

The eight indoor futsal courts enjoy high-booking rate.

On a land area of six-hectares, the sports hub is the home of eight indoor futsal courts, which are covered with heat resistant shelters, plus a beach volleyball court is just right beside them.

"We don't see ourselves as mere provider of futsal courts for football lovers out there, part of our scope is to provide event management services to our corporate clients, if necessary." said Mr Steven Wong, the marketing manager of FICO.

From setting up of the stage, the sound system, the backdrop, the trophies, etc. are part of the event management package offered to the clients who host their events at FICO like this NCC futsal tournament.

As Wong explained due to the scale of some corporate events held at the hub, event management service provided by his company is deemed essential to ensure the smooth operating of those events.

"We help out in areas like fixture planning, arrangement of match officials and other logistical necessities as part of the event management package we offered to these clients when running these in-house tournaments,"added Wong who revealed a large part of their client base are from the corporate sector.

Having a kickabout on FICO futsal court is part of the staff welfare scheme being provided by some companies for their staff.

However, this does not make FICO an "exclusive" club since this was one of the "hotspots" where raw footballing talents were gathered for the recent concluded "The Chance" talent global search by Nike.

No worries for stray balls flying around as each court is enclosed with surrounding nets to prevent any disruption of play.

It does help in a sense when several competitive rates are made affordable for budding players and weekend warriors to book a court to quench their footballing thirst away from the scorching heat of the tropical sun or in the middle of the night.

So are these people watching from outside of any of the courts.

A view that is shared by one of their regular users, Mr Ayyub Kay, who first got to know the existence of FICO through his friends.

"The atmosphere at FICO is great, (as they are located in) opened areas compared to other operators' enclosed surroundings.

"In terms of facilities, they got a nice big shower area and also "Pizzahut" and another food stall."

"To me the only pull factor is FICO's locality in the West area where I reside and they operate on a '24/7' concept." complimented the 29-year-old Business Development Executive who meet up with his friends once or twice every two weeks for a game.

The main entrance to FICO Sports Hub.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON "FICO SPORTS HUB" - Asia Largest Indoor Football Arena , please log on to "http://www.ficosport.com"

WE LOST EVERYTHING, DON'T WE??

Guest team Bangkok Glass (pictured above) claimed the final trophy of the domestic season by snatching the Singapore Cup by beating Tampines Rovers 1-0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

With the Cup claimed by another foreign team, it set an unprecedented clean sweep of all honors for the first time by non-Singaporean teams.

So where are we heading to next???

THE ONLY GOAL THAT SEALED THE WIN FOR THE BUNNIES

A collage of the only goal scored (pictured above) in the match which saw French defender Benoit Croissant deflected the ball off Glass's defender Wasan Homsaen from the right.

THAI FANS ROCKED JBS

These travelling Thai supporters made their presence felt, as always, as if we were in LEO stadium in Bangkok, at least it was worthwhile effort to come down to support their heroes in action.

STAGS' COACH'S TAKE ON THE AFTERMATH ...

Tampines Rovers coach Vorawan Chitavanich (pictured above) in his post-match press conference lamented the cut in budget had seen the inability to bring better import players to the league and plead for more financial support to remedy this situation.

Meanwhile, it was revealed by Coach Vorawan that he has some coaching offers from Thailand, but at this present stage he did not give a definite answer on this matter which he will talk to club chairman Mr Teo Hock Seng soon.

MORE PICTURES OF THIS MATCH, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

[MEDIA RELEASE] Raddy announces provisional squad of 26 for AFF Suzuki Cup

(Media Information from the Football Association of Singapore)

Coach Raddy (in dark outfit) is gunning for his third regional title at the end of the year

SINGAPORE, 12 November 2010: National Coach Radojko Avramovic has called up a provisional squad of 26 players for the AFF Suzuki Cup in December.

Coach Radojko has picked an experienced squad with over half the team seeing action in earlier editions of the Suzuki Cup. He will finalise a squad of 22 players for the trip to Hanoi.

Singapore is in Group B of the biennial tournament alongside Myanmar, co-hosts Vietnam and Philippines with the Lions first match on 2 December. Group A in Jakarta features Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and co-hosts Indonesia.

Please see below and attached Singapore’s provisional squad list of 26 players.

Full Name	Position	Club / Country	Caps	Goals
Lionel Lewis	GK	Home United	68	0
Hassan Sunny	GK	Tampines Rovers	29	0
Izwan Mahbud	GK	Young Lions	0	0
Juma'at Jantan	DF	Home United	15	0
Rosman Sulaiman	DF	Home United	9	0
Baihakki Khaizan	DF	Persib Bandung (INA)	75	2
Precious Emuejeraye	DF	Persija Jakarta (INA)	54	0
Daniel Bennett	DF	SAFFC	95	6
Afiq Yunos	DF	Young Lions	2	0
Irwan Shah	DF	Young Lions	4	0
Safuwan Baharudin	DF	Young Lions	3	0
Noh Rahman	DF/MF	SAFFC	74	0
Ridhuan Muhamad	MF	Arema (INA)	58	3
Isa Halim	MF	Home United	30	0
Shi Jiayi	MF	Home United	48	5
Tengku Mushadad	MF	Home United	11	0
Mustafic Fahrudin	MF	Persela Lamongan (INA)	51	6
Shahril Ishak	MF	Persib Bandung (INA)	79	5
Shahdan Sulaiman	MF	Tampines Rovers	1	0
Hariss Harun	MF	Young Lions	16	0
Noh Alam Shah	FW	Arema (INA)	77	35
Masrezwan Masturi	FW	Geylang United	22	2
Fazrul Nawaz	FW	Gombak United	42	3
Khairul Amri	FW	Persiba Balikpapan (INA)	62	9
Agu Casmir	FW	Persija Jakarta (INA)	33	12
Aleksandar Duric	FW	Tampines Rovers	29	12

Historical night at Jurong East as Etoile is the champs for 2010

Historical night at Jurong East Stadium, debutante Etoile FC claimed their second trophy of the season by clinching the holy grail - the S.League championship (pictured above).

After suffered some early scares in the first half by trailing 2-1 to hosts Albirex Niigata (S), the French stormed back to beat the Japanese 4-2 in the end to seal the race.

Coach Patrick Vallee (pictured above on right) claimed his second honours in his debut season with the French outfit, would he sweep the coveted "Coach of the Year" award on the "S.League Awards Nite" on the 21st November as that final piece of his jig-saw puzzle?

But one thing for sure is Frederic Mendy (pictured above) is set to go up to the stage to pick up this season's "Top Scorer" on the same night.

The other two results on the night saw Tampines Rovers beat Balestier Khalsa 4-1, while the "Uniform Derby" at the Jalan Besar Stadium ended with both SAFFC and Home United in goal-less draw.

(Pictured above) Picked this up - a cork of a champagne bottle uncorked during the celebration last night.

SOMETHING TO PONDER...
Earlier, the day before I posted a question on the blog's FB wall that if Etoile's league victory, would it be seen as a success finally achieved to the league authority's "essentially-why-foreign-team-needed" policy?

Here were some feedback posted...

"Ultimately, it is the selection of the foreign teams that matter most.

I wouldn't say that Albirex is a failure eventhough they have yet to really challenge for the title. But their organisation and the players they produce have turn out to be really good.

So if etoile wins, it would mean that they are a strong foreign team, not necessarily a telling sign that foreign teams are needed in this league." - A Arep

"I think it will be a kick in the ass for the local clubs in the sleague, sometimes, it hurts, but truth it, some points we are not good enough

I think to take it positively , its lessons learnt then title lost

If tamp and home were consistent enough, they wld have already sewn up the title, most important, the future generation of local players can only benefit.

That's the biggest plus point." - B Khoo

A Busy week ahead...

(This message is extracted from the message I sent to the members of the BoLASEPaKO.com's Facebook Group)

I think we will be pretty busy over the next few days for making a decision for the 10th of November, as we must decide where shall we will be heading to (although, I know some of us here don't have much choice)?

Only for them to lose themselves now, can Etoile (pictured above) bounced back against Albirex on 10/11?

It's either you want to be at Jurong East for the Etoile-Albirex game, the Stags-Tigers showdown at Tampines or the "Uniform Derby" at the Jalan Besar.

Heralded as the most exciting title race since 2007, we will only see the unveiling of this season champions on the 10th.

Bring your family and friends to the stadium, with their support at the stadiums the players will be encouraged and put up display of better football." Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee said this during this season opener

Following that on this coming Sunday (14th November), it's another marquee event on local football calendar with guest team - Bangkok Glass will be back with a vengeance when they will take on Tampines Rovers in the Singapore Cup Final at the JBS.

Big Bangkok support reckon on the 14th?

On top of that, the Cubs' Asiad campaign had just begun on a positive note with a 0-0 draw against a much-stronger Qataris and let's hope Sundram and his boys will do the nation proud in their following matches.

So let us all do our part as well by spreading the words around these exciting on-going events in Singapore football, as we are hitting the fever pitch this week.

"THIS IS OUR LEAGUE!" rallied Assoc Prof Ho

It can be via the SMSes, the Facebook, the Twitter or by the word-of-mouth, just like what FAS advisor Associate Professor Ho Peng Kee said on the opening night of this season (pictured above), "Bring your family and friends to the stadium, with their support at the stadiums the players will be encouraged and put up display of better football."

See you on the 10th and 14th then...