Young Lions FC

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.

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 will see Young Lions play in the Malaysian Super League and Malaysia Cup from 2012 onwards, the first time a Singaporean team has participated in Malaysian domestic football since Singapore won the 1994 M-League and Malaysia Cup double. Although the new Singapore team will have the existing Young Lions set up at its core, 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 the team will play in.[1]

Ultimately though, a new team was created for the Malaysia league: the LionsXII, while Young Lions remained in the S.League.

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.[2]

As of 25 February 2023[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  SGP Prathip Ekamparam 2 DF  SGP Raoul Suhaimi 3 DF  SGP Danial Scott Crichton 4 MF  SGP Jared Gallagher 5 DF  JPN Jun Kobayashi 6 DF  SGP Jacob Mahler (captain) 7 MF  JPN Kan Kobayashi 8 MF  SGP Harhys Stewart (vice captain) 9 FW  SGP Zikos Chua 10 MF  SGP Amir Syafiz 11 DF  SGP Harith Kanadi 14 MF  SGP Ryu Hardy Yussri 15 DF  SGP Kieran Teo 16 FW  SGP Ryan Praveen 17 DF  SGP Adam Reefdy 18 FW  SGP Syafi’ie Redzuan 19 FW  SGP Syahadat Masnawi

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  SGP Ilhan Noor 21 MF  SGP Iman Hakim 22 MF  SGP Elijah Lim 23 DF  SGP Jordan Emaviwe 24 GK  SGP Wayne Chew 25 GK  SGP Aizil Yazid 27 DF  SGP Syafi Hilman 28 FW  SGP Ameen Shah 29 DF  SGP Andrew Aw 30 MF  SGP Fairuz Fazli Koh 31 DF  SGP Keshav Kumar 32 GK  SGP Umayr Sujuandy 33 GK  SGP Danial Iliya 34 DF  SGP Aqil Yazid 35 GK  SGP Rauf Erwan 42 MF  SGP Haziq Kamarudin — DF  SGP Ikram Mikhail — MF  SGP Ethan Henry Pinto

Players on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  SGP Sahffee Jubpre (National Service till 2023)

Position	Name
Team Manager	Matthew Sean Sakthi Vel Ganesan
Head coach	Philippe Aw
Assistant coach	Koichiro Iizuka Fadzuhasny Juraimi Afiq Yahya
Goalkeeper coach	Ahmadulhaq Che Omar
Fitness coach	Donald Wan
Physiotherapist	Imran Khamis
Sports Trainer	Nasruldin Baharudin Muklis Sawit
Equipment Officer	Omar Mohamed

Source:[6]

• 2003 saw the introduction of penalty shoot-outs if a match ended in a draw in regular time. Winners of penalty shoot-outs gained two points instead of one.

On 7 September 2010, The S.League fixture between both Young Lions and Beijing Guoan Talent was abandoned in the 89th minute when a massive brawl erupted into violence. The referee and his assistants lost control. Its all started in the final 10 minutes of the game when the first fight broke out in the 84th minute. The match then continued with Afiq Yunos equalising for the Young Lions in the 88th minute. However, a tackle by Beijing’s Yu Tianzhu on Young Lions, Nazrul Nazari in the middle of the field saw the match degenerate into a brawl involving both teams, including bench players. As seen in the Youtube video, several Beijing players went in with flying kicks on Gabriel Quak which he suffered an arm injury while Faritz Hameed was seen receiving a blow to the head as he was on the ground. Both Young Lions players were evacuated to the hospital. Beijing's goalkeeper, Su Boyang was also seen attempting to punch Khairul Nizam. Young Lions head coach, Eugene Loo stepped in to help cool down the tension but was in turn kicked in the back as well and fell over. To make matter worst, several fans were also spotted jumping into the field to fight. Even a medical personnel lost his cool and had to be held back. He was seen escorted away from the pitch while challenging the Beijing players to a fight.

Both clubs have been docked five points and fined $5,000 each. The FAS Disciplinary Committee has also concluded that the match will not be replayed and the result will stand.10 players from Beijing and 6 players from Young Lions have been charged for gross misconduct which brought the game into disrepute. Both teams have sinced apologised for the fight.

• Official website
• S.League website page on Young Lions