The Singapore Football League (SFL) is a semi-professional football tournament for clubs that are affiliated to the Football Association of Singapore. It makes up the second and third tier of football in Singapore after the professional Singapore Premier League, which was established in 1996 and before the FAS Island Wide League. The teams are also eligible to compete in the Singapore FA Cup.
Although it is semi-professional competition organized by the FAS, several former Singapore internationals and ex-S.League players have played in the league such as Jonathan Xu, Indra Sahdan Daud, Precious Emuejeraye and Ahmad Latiff (Eunos Crescent), Yazid Yasin (Gymkhana FC) and Zulkiffli Hassim (Yishun Sentek Mariners).
History
The history of the National Football League (NFL) can be traced back to the earliest 20th century during the British colonization of Singapore, whereby the Singapore Amateur Football Association (SAFA) was formed in year of 1892. SAFA was responsible for organising the top tier football leagues in Singapore with NFL as the top tier football league from early 20th century, until the formation of FAS Premier League in 1988. It was previously made up of Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3, with the bottom team of Division 3 being relegated to the FAS Island Wide League.
As of 2018, it makes up provisional tiers 2 and 3, behind the professional Singapore Premier League, with rules of promotion and relegation applied for teams in NFL Division One and NFL Division Two. Teams play two-round league home-away format. League features promotions and relegations for all the teams in both divisions, where the top two teams of a division will be promoted to the upper division, and the last two relegated to the lower division.
In 2020, the NFL was renamed as Singapore Football League (SFL). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, the first season of SFL started in 2022.
Division 1 clubs as of 2023
Katong FC
Jungfrau Punggol
Project Vaults Oxley SC
Singapore Cricket Club
Singapore Khalsa Association
Tiong Bahru FC
Warwick Knights
Yishun Sentek Mariners
Division 2 clubs as of 2023
Admiralty CSN
Bishan Barx
GFA Sporting Westlake
Kaki Bukit SC
Eunos Crescent
Mattar Sailors
Police SA
Singapore Xin Hua
South Avenue SC
Starlight Soccerites
Active Island Wide League clubs
Bedok South Avenue SC
Boon Keng SRC
Bukit Timah FC (The Northern Stallions) Commonwealth Cosmos East Coast United GDT Circuit FC (Pink Roses) Geylang Serai FC GFA Victoria FC Gymkhana FC Marsiling Causeway Bay (The Wildcats) Pasirian Lions FC (Viva Lions) Prison SRC Simei United (The Sabres) Tanah Merah United (The Oryx) Verde Cresta Combined SC Winchester Isla FC Woodlands Rangers Woodlands United Woodlands Warriors Yishun FC (The Northern Pride)
Former clubs
Siglap FC
Commonwealth Cosmos
Admiralty FC
Admiralty Rangers
Gymkhana FC
Past champions
In 1975, the Football Association of Singapore revamped the existing league structure involving 118 teams into a two-tier league system. For the 1987 season, the teams play each other once in a league format. The top eight placed teams in the league progressed to a knock-out stage to determine the champions. League stage winners Tiong Bahru defeated 4th-placed Tampines Rovers 2–1 in the final to clinch the championship. Reference: The top tier of the football league system was replaced by the FAS Premier League from 1988, the S.League from 1996 and the Singapore Premier League from 2018.