BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

SGPL - Geylang Int'l 2-3 Balestier Khalsa 241020 Shuhei Hoshino (9) raised at the near post in this aerial attempt. Balestier Khalsa Football Club maintained their winning form while Geylang International FC continued their losing streak since the resumption of AIA Singapore Premier League after Tigers walked away with a 3-2 win at Our Tampines Hub earlier of the day. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Tanjong Pagar Utd 0-0 Hougang United 011120 HGFC's Lionel Tan found himself being sandwiched  Both Tanjong Pagar United and Hougang United concluded their AIA Singapore Premier League fixture on a scoreless ending on 1st November at the Jurong East Stadium. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Lion City Sailors 6-1 Tanjong Pagar United 131120 LCS' Shahdan Sulaiman made sure he won this header Lion City Sailors maintained their fiery form by scoring another big margin win when they anchored Tanjong Pagar United 6-1 a

Recently, saw a few postings on social media reminiscing SAFFC's last Singapore Cup win in year 2012. While this may not be the last major honour clinched by the most successful club in Singapore professional football history (the club, renamed as Warriors FC in 2013 , captured their last S.League title in season 2014), it signified the end of a successful era led by the then head coach Richard Bok . I shall not list down what Coach Bok had achieved when he took over the head coaching role of the Warriors in 2006, as this is not the theme of this post. The fall guy from the top - Warriors FC  The theme of this post is to ask the same old question to any of those "sit out" clubs after they made known their intention to return to the fold - "ARE YOU SURE OR NOT?" This came after the Warriors started off by stated their intention to make their way back to the Singapore Premier League (SGPL) in 2021 after being asked to sit out this season to sort out their financi

We may not see the return of the International Champions Cup Singapore (ICCSG) tournament due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic but it is worthwhile to look back on some happenings that took place in the past when foreign teams came to our shores to play a few friendly matches. The arrival of those marquee names in the world football to this dot of the globe in recent years has always been a crowd-puller that not only drawn local fans from their couches from Jurong to Tampines and Woodlands to Bedok by making their way down to Kallang, the ICCSG, as it is commonly known as, has also been a lure for the regional supporters of those European clubs as well like how the Indonesian fans of Inter made their presence felt in their match against Chelsea in the 2017 edition. Advertisement for Anchor Soccer Festival' 74 ( NLB archive ) The trend of such visits by these foreign sides did not start during the 1970s when there were tournaments like the Anchor Soccer Festival in 1974 (so

(This entry is formulated based on the media release issued by Lion City Sailors Football Club, all media materials used in this post belong to LCSFC, unless stated) Lion City Sailors Football Club (LCSFC) has announced the latest step in its commitment to enhancing Singapore’s football ecosystem, with the launch of a S$1 million scholarship programme - Elite Development Programme (EDP) , designed to nurture the careers of the country’s most talented young footballers in a media statement issued by the only privately-owned club of the Singapore Premier League (SGPL). Grooming the next generation of footballers is one of the aims of EDP KEY FEATURES OF EDP ● The S$1 million four-year EDP is the centrepiece of the LCS Football Academy, the club’s new hub for youth football development, and aims to give Singapore’s top young talent a pathway to fulfil their potential. ● LCS Football Academy will be helmed by Academy Technical Director Luka Lalic, who joins from renow

SGPL - Tanjong Pagar Utd 1-1 Lion City Sailors 060320 Referee: "No, you listen to me!"  A gutsy performance by Tanjong Pagar United saw them marked their return to top-tier of local football with a 1-1 draw with Lion City Sailors, one of Singapore Premier League title favourites on 6/3 at Jurong East in front of 2,700 fans. The Jaguars took the lead in the 26th minute with a strike from Brazilian Yann Motta before it was cancelled out by Aussie striker Andy Pengelly in the 44th minute. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 2-2 Hougang United 180320 Stipe Plazibat (second from left) sandwiched in between this aerial duel  Skipper Zaiful Nizam's parried the ball out of play just before full-time to ensure Balestier Khalsa hang on to another 2-2 draw at home, this time against Hougang United at Bishan Stadium.⠀ ⠀ Tigers' Sime Zuzul triggered the scoreboard in the 37th minute with a close-range effort before i

It's regrettable that recently on two separate occasions some prominent local social media icons used the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak as a theme of their humour to mock at the expense of local football. Subsequently, the postings from these social media icons had removed following feedback from local football supporters who registered their opinions on them. The first thing that came to my mind was how much do these social media icons know about local football to use it as a subject to poke fun with? FIRST POSTING Apparently, one appeared to be zilch when the name "S League" was used in the posting using an old picture from an S.League match courtesy of one local news outlet. If the aforementioned posting was referring to the local professional football league, the person may not be aware that the league had rebranded and inaugurated as "Singapore Premier League" (SGPL) in 2018 by President Halimah Yacob at the National Stadium (two seasons already).

(This entry is formulated by the media release issued by Tanjong Pagar United Football Club ) The logo of TPUFC ( credit ) Having stabilized the club's finances during their sit-out period with measures such as prudent budgeting which allowed them to reduce their debts and accrue savings that saw them received the nod to be back at the highest echelon of Singapore's football pyramid, staying financially viable remains one of the utmost priorities as Tanjong Pagar United is set to embark their unfinished journey they left behind in 2015. In a media statement released to the media a day prior to their first Singapore Premier League (SGPL) match against Lion City Sailors at Jurong East Stadium, club chairman Raymond Tang added another challenge of the Jaguars is to stay competitive in the nine-team league. Said Tang:“Our squad is a blend of experience and youth. We did not fill our team with plenty of star names but our players are humble, hungry and hardworking..., now

I would say the assuming of ownership of the club formerly known as Home United Football Club (HUFC) by Sea , a leading internet company, shall be seen as a breakthrough in the local football fraternity. The logo of Lion City Sailors (via LCSFC) The idea of privatization of the Republic's professional football league has always been in the pipeline with little tangible progress till the official announcement was made in the early morning of Valentine's Day. "OWNERSHIP" - A NEW CLEAR INDICATION The word "ownership" mentioned in the press release issued by the official sources is a clear indication to see newly-formed Lion City Sailors (LCSFC) operate under a new business model that is going to set itself apart from the rest of the local Singapore Premier League (SGPL) clubs. According to an online search with the ACRA Bizfile portal, LCSFC is registered as a "private limited" whereas the other local clubs are "societi

To be honest, I am not sure what is the approach of most Singaporean players playing in tournaments like the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) Cup - an opportunity to gauge their worth against regional opponents at a higher competitive setting OR an extra burden to their domestic commitments that might affect their game? And to be honest again, at this stage I still have doubts that the Singapore Premier League (SGPL) is an ideal platform to allow Singaporean players to showcase their worth to the regional market given the lack of intensity and competitiveness in recent years, as compared to some Football Association of Singapore (FAS) top officials envisage for (if I'm not wrong). Home United's (red) 2018 AFC Cup run was a rare success in ongoing doldrums That is why it is important for SGPL clubs to do well in the AFC Cup or at the higher tier AFC Champions League (ACL), if given the chance to do so, when recent years' results have been poor except for Home Unit

When I declared my season was done after the 2019 Singapore Cup final, I realized I amassed a stack of accreditation passes that were essential in order to work behind the scene from the days it was known as the S.League till two years ago when it was rebranded as Singapore Premier League (SPL). My involvement started halfway in 1998 (the third season) when I answered a call and turned up at a meeting in the S.League office at old National Stadium to be part of the crew assembled to help the official league website. Evolution of the passes  The first pass I received was a laminated pass with the necessary details besides the photo which I snapped at one of those instant photo booths, on the bottom of the pass listed the league sponsors of that season like Tiger Beer, Pepsi, NTUC Income, and Singapore Pools. "BUSINESS CARD" PASS FIT IN NICELY The following year saw the pass shrunk into a business card-size made of plastic material by Cardwon from Taiwan and honestly

I was wondering if the turmoil at Warriors Football Club did not surface, would the attention be dominated by the injury-time appearance of that Fulham FC youngster by the name of Ben Davis in the Carabao Cup or the "Goal 2034" topic? A poll was conducted to ask which was the talking poll on Facebook The Thai-born Davis caused quite a stir a few months ago for defaulting his National Service (NS) obligations in his pursuit of a professional football career in England. Whereas the troubles at one of the most successful clubs in Singapore football history saw the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) take an unprecedented step to direct Warriors FC to remove Paul Poh from his role as the club's general manager and honorary secretary following several lapses of discrepancies. While the two incidents may not be linked directly, it is not hard to realize the coincidence of having the military background in both occurrences. MILITARY BACKGROUND For

Lions Training Session 060619 Coach Yoshida briefs his players at Geylang Field Spotted two staff coaches, presumably, from Albirex Niigata (Singapore) observing the training session conducted by new national team coach Tatsuma Yoshida by taking notes of what they saw and noticed. The Lions will be playing two friendly matches at the National Stadium against Solomon Islands and Myanmar. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE PICTURES SGPL - Geylang Int'l 5-0 Balestier Khalsa 160619 Geylang's Barry Maguire brace for an aerial ball  Geylang International crushed Balestier Khalsa 5-0 at Our Tampines Hub following the resuming of the AIA Singapore Premier League after the international week. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Geylang Int'l 2-2 Hougang Utd 050719 "Guys, I am just focusing on my shot" Thought the match was an evenly-contested one at Our Tampines Hub that ended two-two for both Geylang Intern

Probably by now the newly-appointed Singapore national team coach Tatsuma Yoshida should more or less have a rough idea where our level of football is after the two recent matches that served as an orientation for the Japanese tactician. Coach Tatsuma Yoshida is the first Japanese coach of the Lions When his name was mentioned on various media reports prior to the official unveiling by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) early this month, many skepticisms clouded over his appointment which mainly targeted his less-than-impressive curriculum vitae. Still, the former Jurong FC player pressed ahead and went straight down to business by taking charge of the Lions in the recent friendly matches against the Solomon Islands and Myanmar at Kallang. THE USUAL BRICKBATS Barely surprising after an unconvincing 4-3 win over Solomon Islands and a 2-1 defeat to Myanmar , critics were quick to jump onto the bandwagon to make their voices heard although there are those who felt it&