2019 Singapore Premier League

The 2019 Singapore Premier League (also known as the AIA Singapore Premier League due to sponsorship reasons) was the 2nd season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since its rebranding in 2018. A major overhaul from the new FAS management was made from this season onwards to improve the standard of Singapore football.^[1]

Singapore Premier League

Season	2019
Champions	DPMM FC (2nd title)
AFC Champions League	Tampines Rovers
AFC Cup	Hougang United Geylang International
← 2018 2020 →

Rules

The following key changes were made to the rules for the 2019 season:^[2]

1. Singapore Premier League clubs could sign three imports from next season after the increase in foreign player quota was raised at the Football Association of Singapore's 36th Annual Congress ^[3]
2. From 2019, only four stadiums host regular matches. The 8 teams (excluding DPMM) will host the matches in the following stadiums. Our Tampines Hub (Tampines Rovers and Geylang International), Jalan Besar Stadium (Young Lions and Hougang United), Bishan Stadium (Home United and Balestier Khalsa) and Jurong East Stadium (Albirex Niigata and Warriors FC).^[4]
3. For 2019, Albirex is allowed to sign as many locals as their budget allows. However, the club are only allowed one Singaporean over the age of 23. Also, Albirex must have two Singaporeans in their starting lineup for each game.^[5]
4. Each team is now able to register up to 28 players in their squad, an increase of 3 players as compared to 2018.

Teams

A total of 9 teams compete in the league. Albirex Niigata (S) and DPMM FC are invited foreign clubs from Japan and Brunei respectively. Despite large criticism and discussion against the Young Lions project, the Young Lions will continue to compete till 2019 for the purposes of training and preparing for the 2019 SEA Games.^[6] The criticism mainly focused on the poor performances every season by the largely youth team made up of Singapore Football's brightest prospects. Season-long consecutive losses against the rest of the more mature teams inflicts serious long-term consequences on the morale of the players, considering that most of these players are in the developmental ages of their footballing career. The new age restrictions imposed on the rest of the Singapore Premier League clubs could be seen as giving the Young Lions a better advantage in terms of seniority, but most critics and fans of Singapore football are still wanting the FAS to abolish the FAS-managed Young Lions and have them developed under the guidance of genuine local clubs.

Stadiums and locations

DPMM FC

Singapore

Location of 2018 Singapore Premier League teams

Albirex (S)
Warriors FC

Hougang United
Young
Lions

Balestier Khalsa
Home Utd

Geylang International
Tampines Rovers

Locations of the 2018 Singapore Premier League teams from Singapore

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Albirex Niigata (S)	Jurong East Stadium	2,700
Balestier Khalsa	Bishan Stadium	3,500
DPMM FC	Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium	28,000
Geylang International	Our Tampines Hub	5,000
Home United	Bishan Stadium	3,500
Hougang United	Jalan Besar Stadium	6,000
Tampines Rovers	Our Tampines Hub	5,000
Warriors FC	Jurong East Stadium	2,700
Young Lions	Jalan Besar Stadium	6,000

Personnel and sponsors

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

Team	Head coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Main Shirt sponsor
Albirex Niigata (S)	Keiji Shigetomi	Kyoga Nakamura[7]	Mizuno[8]	Canon
Balestier Khalsa	Marko Kraljević	Zaiful Nizam[9]	Lotto	Jeep[10]
DPMM FC	Adrian Pennock	Wardun Yussof	Lotto
Geylang International	Mohd Noor Ali	Yuki Ichikawa[11]	FBT[12]	Epson
Home United	Noh Rahman	Izzdin Shafiq[13]	Puma	Linco Investments
Hougang United	Clement Teo	Zulfahmi Arifin[14]	Warrix	Jalan Besar Stadium
Tampines Rovers	Kadir Yahaya	Shahdan Sulaiman[15]	Hummel[16]	Hyunudai Avante
Warriors FC	Razif Bin Onn	Khairul Nizam[17]	Joma	Rhino Sports
Young Lions	Fandi Ahmad	Joshua Pereira[18]	Nike	-

Coaching changes

Team	Outgoing Head Coach	Manner of Departure	Date of Vacancy	Position in table	Incoming Head Coach	Date of appointment
Geylang International	Hirotaka Usui	End of exchange	29 September 2018[19]	Pre-Season	Mohd Noor Ali	21 December 2018[20]
Home United	Aidil Sharin Sahak	Signed by Kedah FA	8 October 2018[21]	Pre-Season	Saswadimata Dasuki	3 December 2018[22]
Tampines Rovers	Jurgen Raab	Sacked	9 October 2018[23]	Pre-Season	Gavin Lee	9 October 2018[24]
Tampines Rovers	Gavin Lee	No license	9 October 2018	Pre-Season	Kadir Yahaya	9 October 2018
DPMM FC	Renê Weber	Sacked	16 October 2018[25]	Pre-Season	Adrian Pennock	17 October 2018[26]
Warriors FC	Mirko Grabovac	End of Contract	31 October 2018[27]	Pre-Season	Azlan Alipah	1 November 2018
Albirex Niigata (S)	Kazuaki Yoshinaga	End of contract	30 November 2018[28]	Pre-Season	Keiji Shigetomi	11 December 2018[29]
Hougang United	NA	NA	28 December 2018	Pre-Season	Clement Teo	28 December 2018[30]
Balestier Khalsa	Marko Kraljević	Signed by Kelantan FA	26 January 2019[31]	Pre-Season	Khidhir Khamis	4 February 2019[32]
Home United	Saswadimata Dasuki	Sacked	19 April 2019[33]	7th	Noh Rahman (interim)	19 April 2019[34]
Home United	Noh Rahman (interim)	End of Caretaker	2 July 2019[35]	6th	Radojko Avramović	2 July 2019[36]
Home United	Radojko Avramović	Step down (health reason)	18 August 2019[37]	5th	Noh Rahman (interim)	18 August 2019[38]
Balestier Khalsa	Khidhir Khamis	Sacked	24 September 2019	9th	Marko Kraljević	24 September 2019[39]

Foreigners

Singapore Premier League clubs could sign three imports from next season after the increase in foreign player quota was raised at the Football Association of Singapore's 36th Annual Congress^[3]

Albirex Niigata can sign up unlimited number of Singaporean players for the new season. Only 1 local player above 23 years old is allowed.^[40]

Players name in bold indicates the player was registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	U21 Player 1	U21 Player 2	U21 Player 3	Former Players
Albirex Niigata (S)	Hyrulnizam Juma'at[41]	Noor Akid Nordin[41]	Daniel Martens[42]	Firas Irwan[43]	Zamani Zamri[42]	Gerald Ang[43]
Balestier Khalsa	Kristijan Krajcek[44]	Sime Zuzul[44]		Sanjin Vrebac[45]
DPMM FC	Blake Ricciuto[46]	Charlie Clough[46]	Andrey Varankow[46]
Geylang International	Barry Maguire[47]	Yuki Ichikawa[48]		Matthew Palmer[49]			Morteza Safdari[50] Corey Warren[51]
Home United	Isaka Cernak[52]	Song Ui-young[53]		Oliver Puflett[54]
Hougang United	Stipe Plazibat[55]	Kong Ho-won[56]		Paulin Mbaye			Rafael Ramazotti[57][58]
Tampines Rovers	Jordan Webb[59]	Ryutaro Megumi[60]		Zehrudin Mehmedović[61]	Mirza Delimeđac
Warriors FC	Jonathan Béhé[62]	Kento Fukuda[63]		Ryosuke Nagasawa

Note 1: Albirex, a Japanese club, is allowed to sign as many locals as their budget allows. However, the club are only allowed one Singaporean over the age of 23.

Note 2: DPMM FC, a Bruneian club, can sign 3 non-Bruneian foreigners.

Note 3: Singapore teams can sign 4 foreigners, of which 2 must be below 21 years old.

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	BAL	DPM	GEY	HOM	HOU	TAM	WAR	YLI	ALB	BAL	DPM	GEY	HOM	HOU	TAM	WAR	YLI
Albirex Niigata (S)	—	2–1	0–0	2–0	4–0	1–2	3–1	1–0	2–1	—	2–0	0–0	NA	1–0	NA	NA	NA	4–1
Balestier Khalsa	1–3	—	1–7	3–0	2–4	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–1	NA	—	1–4	3–4	NA	3–4	NA	3–3	NA
DPMM	2–0	2–1	—	3–0	2–0	3–2	2–1	4–2	0–0	NA	NA	—	3–0	NA	5–4	0–1	3–0	NA
Geylang International	1–0	5–0	1–3	—	2–3	2–2	0–1	5–2	1–2	1–0	NA	NA	—	NA	4–4	2–1	4–3	NA
Home United	3–3	0–0	0–1	3–0	—	0–2	2–4	4–4	2–1	NA	1–3	1–0	3–2	—	NA	NA	NA	0–3
Hougang United	4–2	1–0	3–1	4–1	1–0	—	1–5	5–1	0–1	1–1	NA	NA	NA	2–0	—	2–4	3–1	NA
Tampines Rovers	0–0	4–2	3–1	1–1	5–1	3–3	—	1–2	4–0	2–0	3–3	NA	NA	3–0	NA	—	NA	1–1
Warriors	1–2	3–3	3–3	1–2	0–3	3–2	1–1	—	2–0	2–1	NA	NA	NA	1–3	NA	0–1	—	2–0
Young Lions	1–2	1–4	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	—	NA	1–0	1–1	1–2	NA	2–4	NA	NA	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	DPMM[a] (C)	24	15	5	4	51	25	+26	50
2	Tampines Rovers	24	12	8	4	52	29	+23	44	Qualification for AFC Champions League preliminary round 1
3	Hougang United	24	13	4	7	58	45	+13	43	Qualification for AFC Cup group stage
4	Albirex Niigata (S)[a]	24	12	5	7	36	25	+11	41
5	Geylang International	24	10	3	11	41	48	−7	33
6	Home United	24	9	3	12	34	46	−12	30
7	Warriors	24	6	5	13	40	56	−16	23
8	Young Lions[a]	24	6	4	14	21	38	−17	22
9	Balestier Khalsa	24	4	5	15	37	58	−21	17

Source: Singapore Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) number of wins
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. The two foreign clubs – Albirex Niigata (S) and DPMM – as well as the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) under-21 team, Young Lions, are ineligible for any AFC competition spots.

Statistics

Top scorers

As of 29 September 2019.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Andrey Varankow	DPMM FC	21
2	Faris Ramli	Hougang United	16
3	Jordan Webb	Tampines Rovers	15
4	Jonathan Béhé	Warriors FC	12
5	Hazzuwan Halim	Balestier Khalsa	10
6	Stipe Plazibat	Hougang United	9
6	Blake Ricciuto	DPMM FC	9
6	Gabriel Quak	Warriors FC	9
6	Sime Zuzul	Balestier Khalsa	9
6	Fareez Farhan	Geylang International	9
11	Shawal Anuar	Geylang International	8
11	Shahfiq Ghani	Hougang United	8
13	Hiroyoshi Kamata	Albirex Niigata (S)	7
13	Kyoga Nakamura	Albirex Niigata (S)	7
13	Shahril Ishak	Home United	7
13	Zehrudin Mehmedović	Tampines Rovers	7

Clean sheets

As of 29 September 2019.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Wardun Yussof	DPMM FC	10
2	Kengo Fukudome	Albirex Niigata (S)	8
3	Syazwan Buhari	Tampines Rovers	6
4	Nazri Sabri	Home United	5
5	Ridhuan Barudin	Hougang United	4

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Reference
Andrey Varankow 5	DPMM FC	Balestier Khalsa	7–1	13 April 2019	[64]
Andrey Varankow	DPMM FC	Warriors FC	3–0	14 September 2019	[65]
Fareez Farhan	Geylang International	Hougang United	4–4	15 September 2019	[66]
Shahfiq Ghani	Hougang United	DPMM FC	4–5	29 September 2019	[67]

Note ⁴ Player scored 4 goals ⁵ Player scored 5 goals

Own goal

Player	Team	Against	Date
Zulfahmi Arifin	Hougang United	Tampines Rovers	3 March 2019
Darren Teh	Geylang International	Balestier Khalsa	31 March 2019
Lionel Tan	Young Lions	Tampines Rovers	29 May 2019
Shah Shahiran	Tampines Rovers	Albirex Niigata (S)	15 June 2019
Hairul Syirhan	Geylang International	Warriors FC	18 September 2019

Penalty missed

Player	For	Against	Date
Shahdan Sulaiman	Tampines Rovers	Hougang United	3 March 2019
Taufik Suparno	Tampines Rovers	Home United	8 March 2019
Kyoga Nakamura	Albirex Niigata (S)	Warriors FC	13 April 2019
Faris Ramli	Hougang United	Balestier Khalsa	12 May 2019
Jonathan Béhé	Warriors FC	DPMM FC	6 July 2019
Sime Zuzul	Balestier Khalsa	Warriors FC	19 July 2019
Shahril Ishak	Home United	Balestier Khalsa	14 August 2019
Jordan Webb	Tampines Rovers	Albirex Niigata (S)	18 August 2019
Shahril Ishak	Home United	Hougang United	1 September 2019
Amy Recha	Geylang International	Home United	21 September 2019

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Young Player of the Month		Reference
	Coach	Club	Player	Club
April	Blake Ricciuto	DPMM FC	Kyoga Nakamura	Albirex Niigata (S)
May	Gabriel Quak	Warriors FC	Kyoga Nakamura	Albirex Niigata (S)
June	Shawal Anuar	Geylang International	Zikos Chua	Geylang International
July	Christopher van Huizen	Geylang International	Zikos Chua	Geylang International
August	Šime Žužul	Balestier Khalsa	Jacob Mahler	Young Lions
September	Shahfiq Ghani	Hougang United	Faizal Raffi	Warriors FC

Singapore Premier League Awards night winners

Awards	Winners	Club
Player of the Year	Faris Ramli	Hougang United
Young Player of the Year	Hami Syahin	Home United
Coach of the Year	Adrian Pennock	DPMM FC
Top Scorer Award	Andrey Varankow	DPMM FC
Fair Play Award	Albirex Niigata (S)
Referee of the Year	Farhan Mohd	—

StraitsTime Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Wardun Yussof (DPMM FC)
Defence	Nazrul Nazari (Hougang United)			Kaishu Yamazaki (Albirex Niigata (S))			Yuki Ichikawa (Geylang International)			Irwan Shah (Tampines Rovers)
Midfield	Blake Ricciuto (DPMM FC)				Kyoga Nakamura (Albirex Niigata (S))				Shahdan Sulaiman (Tampines Rovers)
Attack	Gabriel Quak (Warriors FC)				Faris Ramli (Hougang United)				Andrei Varankou (DPMM FC)

AIA Team of the Year
Goalkeeper	Wardun Yussof (DPMM FC)
Defence	Nazrul Nazari (Hougang United)			Kaishu Yamazaki (Albirex Niigata (S))			Charlie Clough (DPMM FC)			Irwan Shah (Tampines Rovers)
Midfield	Blake Ricciuto (DPMM FC)				Kyoga Nakamura (Albirex Niigata (S))				Shahdan Sulaiman (Tampines Rovers)
Attack	Shawal Anuar (Geylang International)				Faris Ramli (Hougang United)				Andrei Varankou (DPMM FC)