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]

• 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.

As of 17 October 2020[3]

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  SIN Nurshafiq Zaini 3 DF  SIN Irfan Najeeb 4 DF  SIN Danish Irfan Azman 5 DF  SIN Amer Hakeem 6 MF  SIN Jacob Mahler (captain) 7 MF  SIN Zamani Zamri 8 MF  SIN Rezza Rezky 9 FW  SIN Fikri Junaidi 10 FW  SIN Shahrulnizam Mazlan 11 MF  SIN Rasaq Akeem 12 MF  SIN Amirul Haikal 13 FW  SIN Shahib Masnawi 14 FW  SIN Marc Ryan Tan 15 DF  SIN Asraf Zahid 16 DF  SIN Ryhan Stewart 17 MF  SIN Ilhan Fandi

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 GK  SIN Ridhwan Fikri 19 FW  SIN Khairin Nadim 20 MF  SIN Nor Hakim Redzuan 21 DF  SIN Sahffee Jubpre 22 DF  SIN Nur Adam Abdullah 23 DF  SIN Harhys Stewart 24 DF  SIN Danial Scott Crichton 25 DF  SIN Akmal Azman 27 MF  SIN Bill Mamadou 28 DF  SIN Syed Akmal 30 GK  SIN Karan Sobti 31 DF  SIN Qayyum Raishyan 32 GK  SIN Putra Anugerah Sahrin 41 MF  SIN Hami Syahin 45 DF  SIN Akram Azman

Source:[4]

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