BoLASEPaKO.com - A Blog on Singapore Football

Much attention have been generated since the announcement of the "Brazil Global Tour 2019" which will be taking place in Singapore next month. This event will feature the Brazilian national team in two friendly matches to be played at the National Stadium where the "Seleção" will play Senegal on the 10th of October before facing Nigeria three days later. It marks the second visit of the five-time World Cup champions to the republic where they last visited back in 2014 when they beat Japan 4-0 in the 55,000-capacity arena of Singapore Sports Hub (SSH). STAR-STUDDED SQUAD TO COME TO SINGAPORE The Brazilians will have the likes of PSG's Neymar Jr and Roberto Firmino who is likely to face his Liverpool team mate Sadio Mané (if he is being selected) of Senegal in the first match. The stellar cast with these stars to parade their skills on our shores had fans like Frankie Goh looking forward to the upcoming bonanza. The "Seleção" squad named

With due respect to the past visiting teams, this year's International Champions Cup Singapore (ICCSG) Tournament was probably be the most glittering since Singapore Sports Hub first hosted the event in 2017 under an ongoing four-year agreement. Not only because two of four participating teams - Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspurs are two of the best supported English Premier League sides in Singapore, Juventus, who back in Singapore for the first time since 2015, were boasted by the presence of talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo and the impressive 19-year-old Matthijs de Ligt, the new signing from Ajax Amsterdam following his notable performance that won him admirers among the top clubs in Europe. Credit to the man in cap for started the Kallang Wave on last Saturday Apart from the largely cold shoulder response by the Red Devils to their adoring fans upon their arrival at their Ritz Carlton Millenia base, the players of other three participating sides duly ob

The new Merlion Cup trophy was unveiled by the members of the FAS Council It was a mere formality earlier this afternoon at the Jalan Besar Stadium (JBS) to confirm the revival of the Merlion Cup tournament this coming June following news of its coming back being revealed by Fox Sports Asia weeks ago. Back in late April, the online portal first reported the Philippines U22 side will be taking part in the mentioned tournament and posted another update days ago that revealed the dates and venue of the quadrangular which will be taking place on 7th and 9th June at the JBS. Former Lions skipper Terry Pathmanathan (second from left) shares his Merlion Cup experiences In a draw that was conducted during the press conference at JBS VIP Lounge, the fate of the four participating teams namely - the U22 sides of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines were made known. THE FORMAT The first day (7th June) of the tournament will see Thailand vs Indonesia in the first match

Friendly - Balestier Khalsa 5-1 Admiralty CSC 120119 Pre-season friendlies are usually staged on afternoon Balestier Khalsa beat Admiralty CSC 5-1 at the Toa Payoh Stadium, this match was the first of the three scheduled by the Tigers, as published on their social media platforms. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES AIA Community Shield - ANS 0-0 HUFC (HU win on PK) 230219 HU's Abdil Qaiyyim clears the danger in the box Home United claimed the first major honour of local football by winning the AIA Community Shield on penalties and broke the domination of Albirex Niigata (Singapore) for the last three years. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Hougang Utd 1-5 Tampines Rovers 030319 Something tussling at the edge of the box Honestly, not a result that most were looking forward to especially how Hougang United was hyped up before the start of the season with some notable signings to change their fortune in

The cover of the book  In short, to summarize my thoughts after reading this book is - thou shall not treat a football club neither as a toy nor as a money spinner. FAILURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE Citing two similar cases which were studied by author Bob Holmes - Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, it is not difficult to tell how foreign owners of these two clubs made a grave mistake for not to appreciate both are not merely football clubs but being a significant heritage and indispensable part of the community fabric of the vicinity where they are based. When both Al-Hasawis and Venkys paraded themselves to supporters of Forest and Rovers respectively after they bought the clubs, many promises were made to lift their teams out of the doldrums with some seems way beyond their means to deliver those dreams like the audacious bid to land Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho to Ewood Park in 2010. One of Mrs Desai's famous quotes after took over Blackburn Rovers  A few pages into

Singapore Cup - Balestier Khalsa 2-2 DPMM 031018 Most of the shots like this was snapped where the lights were the brightest  Although Balestier Khalsa Football Club drew 2-2 with DPMM FC, the Tigers were knocked out of the RHB Singapore Cup after losing 4-2 on aggregate to the Bruneians. Poor lightnings at the stadium made the shooting experience an arduous task. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES #ThankYouFara - 071018 Fahrudin Mustafic marked the end of his glittering career at OTH Our Tampines Hub witnessed the end of a great footballing career as Tampines Rovers Football Club skipper Fahrudin Mustafic retires from professional football with a testimonial match featuring some of the luminaries in local football in his honour. Thank you very much, Fara. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES Friendly - S'pore Selection 0-1 Australia U19 151018 The Young Socceroos played their last warm-up at Bishan before leavi

In the very beginning, Mr Gaw Khek Khiam 's idea was to initiate a tournament similar to that of the Malaya Cup (now Malaysia Cup) but to be contested by Chinese footballers representing the various Malay States and Singapore in 1925. BLOATED ATTEMPT TO REPLICATE MALAYA CUP Unfortunately, the response to the concept of Semarang-born, Raffles Institution graduated Gaw was lukewarm from those Chinese football teams across the Straits of Johor when Singapore's footballing prowess was way ahead of them in that era. Chee Lim with Ho Ho Cup (Malayan Saturday Post, 25 May 1929 (NLB NewspaperSG online archive ) Not to be deterred by the lack of enthusiasm from the rest of the Malayan sides and had already spent a princely sum of £200 on a trophy made in England, the proprietor of the Ho Ho Biscuit Factory approached local renowned footballer Yee Cheok Wah and travelled together to Hong Kong where they proposed to organise a match between Chinese footballers represen

Yusof B Ibrahim was among those who made their presence days ago at the International Champions Cup - Singapore (ICCSG) tournament which was held for the second time in the Lion City. Here is his summary of the tournament after catching the likes of Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) in action in a space of five days at Kallang. Arsenal head coach Unai Emery The second edition of the International Champions Cup Singapore tournament (ICCSG) was held in late July at the Singapore Sports Hub with the likes of Arsenal, Atlético Madrid and PSG (Paris Saint-Germain) pitted against one another in this annual mega tournament featuring some of the biggest football clubs in the world. Early birds Arsenal arrived with a full squad which included former German international Mesut Özil who was, however, not featured in their opening match against Atlético Madrid, as new Gunners gaffer Unai Emery opted for a similar system favoured by his predecessor Arsene Wen

SGPL - Albirex Niigata (S) 1-0 Hougang Utd 060518 The result saw Albirex Niigata FC Singapore pulled away from the pack in the Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League league standing with the rest of them still scratching their heads. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 1-2 Geylang International 020618 Not much to snap when most of the actions were "out of bound" due to my equipments limitations but nonetheless Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League the match saw Geylang International beat Balestier Khalsa 2-1 at the "dark" Toa Payoh Stadium. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Hougang Utd 0-2 Tampines Rovers 090618 Khairul Amri (partially hidden by ball) scored in this match For Tampines Rovers, their main is try to narrow their gap in between them and Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League leaders Albirex Niigata FC Singapore and Hougang Unite

Barely into the second round of the Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League (SGPL) had Balestier Khalsa coach Marko Kraljevic ate his words. Speaking to The New Paper (TNP) after his side's five-nil defeat to defending champions Albirex Niigata (Singapore) on the 27th of May, the Croatian coach declared: "Albirex are looking like champions. There's no way to chase them, they're too good this year." Albirex is simply the best so far in SGPL. This marked a stark contrast to his earlier remarks in April when he claimed the Yuhua-based side "are definitely not as strong as last year", a sentiment seemingly echoed by his Home United counterpart Aidil Sharin, as suggested in a separate article that appeared on The Straits Times. Ironically, the Protectors were crushed 6-1 by the White Swans at their Bishan backyard on the very same day when the said broadsheet carried those thoughts with Adam Swandi scoring the final goal in the dying minut

(P.S: If you access this site via "come.to/matchpix", please click the "Facebook" icon after you click "HERE" when you want to view the album as that will redirect you to the album, thank you) SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 0-1 Albirex Niigata (S) 080418 Balestier's Zaiful Nizam claimed the ball One thing I should appreciate taking snaps for 5.30pm KO is the bright sunlight and take note when the sun goes down when close to 7pm. Ok with the outcome of this Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League match between Balestier Khalsa Football Club and Albirex Niigata FC Singapore at the Toa Payoh Stadium. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE REST OF THE MATCH PICTURES SGPL - Balestier Khalsa 2-1 Warriors FC 290418 Players from both Balestier Khalsa and Warriors tussling in the box Another win for Balestier Khalsa Football Club in the Great Eastern-Hyundai Singapore Premier League placed them behind leaders Albirex Niigata FC Singapore in the leagu

(This entry is formulated by the media release issued by Full Circle PR , the PR agency for "ICC Singapore" with all images depicted in this entry belong to International Champions Cup ) (L-R) José Luis Caminero, Robert Pirès and Maxwell Scherrer Football fans, mark your calendar this coming July when the International Champions Cup (ICC) will return to Singapore with three of Europe’s top football clubs.

 Following the success of last year’s tournament that saw 104,407 fans turned out at the National Stadium to catch the likes of Chelsea, FC Bayern Munich and FC Internazionale Milano, the second installment of the Singapore edition of the ICC will see the participation of Arsenal, Atlético de Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) at the same venue on 26th, 28th and 30th of July. Patrick Murphy, President & Chairman, Catalyst Media Group. Acknowledged the positive reception of last year’s tournament in this part of the world is Mr Patrick Murphy, Chairman a

Can the "Kallang Roar" return to National Stadium Will the three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and SportsHub Pte Ltd , the operators of Singapore Sports Hub, signed days ago set the pace to see the much-awaited revival of the Merlion Cup in the local football calendar? FUTILE ATTEMPTS TO REVIVE In the recent years, futile attempts were made to revive the invitational tournament, last staged in 2009 as an one-off fixture when English side Liverpool were featured against the Singapore national team, in the iconic 55,000-capacity National Stadium. The well-documented spat back in late 2015 between SportsHub and MP & Silva, FAS commercial and media rights partner, over the venue rental costs eventually had the plan shelved indefinitely after talks between both parties broke down. Reason why FAS did not organize Merlion Cup in 1987 (source: NST ) Since the reopening of the National Stadium in mid

DPMM will continue their involvement (file snap) The participation of Brunei DPMM in the S.League has been under much scrutiny following revelations in recent media reports that the Sultanate's professional club was mulling a withdrawal from the Republic's setup to take part in leagues in either Malaysia or Indonesia. However, updates posted on the team's official website suggested that they had changed their mind and will continue their involvement in the Singapore domestic football scene which they did since 2004 when the Wasps (the nickname of DPMM) were first featured in the Singapore Cup tournament. On the same page of the aforementioned site, it was also made known, as quoted below. AFTER THE S-LEAGUE HAVE DECIDED TO ALLOW DPMM ON 4 IMPORT PLAYERS,THEY NOW DECIDED ON HAVING ANOTHER DISCUSSION ON THE FOREIGN PLAYERS FOR DPMM. The notion was further confirmed when the newly-appointed DPMM coach Rene Weber revealed in an article reported by BruSports News,

Far too familiar sight for the past one year The woeful display by the Singapore national team on their last match of the year sums up the state of the game in the island republic. In this do-or-die battle against Bahrain at the National Stadium, a victory would have ensured the Lions of their faltering hopes to stay alive to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup tournament next year. Unfortunately, things did not go the way Singapore wanted as they found themselves succumbed to their ninth defeat of the year in the hands of the Middle Easterns and the three-nil loss at home eventually kissed their continental dream goodbye. This result also concluded the fact that the four-time Asean champions ended their calendar without a single win since their last triumph back in last November against Cambodia at the Bishan Stadium. DOUBLE WHAMMY ... Right from the start, attempts by both Geylang International's Shawal Anuar and Home United’s Irfan Fandi in a space of ten minutes gave the