Lion City Sailors FC

When the S.League was formed in 1996, the club was known as the Police Football Club. The following year, its name was changed to Home United to reflect the fact that the team represented not only the Singapore Police Force, but also other HomeTeam departments of the Singapore Ministry of Home Affairs such as the Singapore Civil Defence Force and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. Home United nickname was the "Protectors" and its mascot, a dragon.

In 1999, Robert Alberts guided the club to secured their first ever piece of silverware guiding them to win the 1999 S.League title. Alberts also won the Singapore Cup back-to-back winning the 2000 and 2001 edition.

In 2003, head coach, Steve Darby guided Home United in becoming the first club to achieve the S.League and Singapore Cup double in 2003 where he also steer the club to won the 2005 edition of the Singapore Cup.[1] Under Korean manager tutelage, Lee Lim-saeng who is also the longest tenure as head coach in the club history, guided Home United to win both the 2011 Singapore Cup and the 2013 Singapore Cup.

The club had qualified to the AFC Cup for the tenth time with their best result in the 2004 AFC Cup where they reached the semi-final.

On 14 February 2020, the club was privatised for the first time in its history, when Singaporean billionaire Forrest Li announcing that he had purchased a 100% stake in the club.[2] The club was officially renamed as Lion City Sailors and its signature red colour was replaced with white and blue. The Sailors' main aim following its rebranding was to boost professionalism in Singaporean football, with becoming a Southeast Asian super club its long-term goal.[3] The new name, Sailors, was a homage to the country's maritime heritage. As it sets its sight on success in 2020, Lion City Sailors will be led by Australian head coach, Aurelio Vidmar, the former Socceroos captain. He joins after a hugely successful stint in Australia where he led Adelaide United to the 2008 AFC Champions League final, becoming the first Australian team to earn this distinction. Vidmar make a couple of stud signings including Singaporean stars, Hassan Sunny, Gabriel Quak and Shahdan Sulaiman, Japanese defender Kaishu Yamazaki, and as well a prolific Australian forward, Andy Pengelly.

On 21 January 2021, the club created history by smashing the Singapore Premier League transfer-fee record with the signing of midfielder Diego Lopes from Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave for €1.8 million euros (S$2.89 million) on a three-year deal.[4]

With the motivation to rejuvenate the glory days of the past into the future, On 18 May 2021, Kim Do-Hoon, who led Korea Republic's Ulsan Hyundai to victory in 2020 AFC Champions League, joined the Sailors on a two-and-a-half year deal. During his first season, Kim led Lion City Sailors to win the 2021 Singapore Premier League title and the 2022 Singapore Community Shield. Lion City Sailors went on to qualify for their first ever AFC Champions League tournament in the club history.

Hassan

Hariss (C)

P. Henrique

Tajeli

Iqram Rifqi

Amirul Adli

Shahdan

Song

Lestienne

Faris Ramli

Diego Lopes

2022 AFC Champions League Group Stage - Daegu FC 0–3 Lion City Sailors at the Buriram City Stadium - 18 April 2022

On 18 April 2022, Lion City Sailors defeated K League 1 club Daegu FC 3–0 in the 2022 AFC Champions League, their first AFC Champions League win since their rebranding. Kim Do-Hoon side had bounced back from an opening 4–1 defeat by J1 League club Urawa Reds to beat Daegu 3-0 before picking up four points in a goalless draw and 3–2 win over Chinese Super League's Shandong Taishan. Sailors maiden AFC Champions League campaign ended with narrow 2–1 to Daegu in the final group stage fixture. Their tally of seven points is the best showing by a Singapore side at the AFC Champions League.[5] In the 2022 Singapore Premier League match against Tampines Rovers on 24 July 2022, as the Sailors was contesting in a draw nearing to the end of the match, around the 87th minute of the match, with the score levelled at 1–1, things became heated as Tampines forward Boris Kopitović confronted Sailors defender, Nur Adam Abdullah near the sideline. The situation then took a turn for the worse as other players, as well as coaches and staff from both sides got themselves involved in the tussle. Kim Do-hoon appeared to get involved in an heated argument with Tampines Rovers assistant coach, Fahrudin Mustafić where footage from the game shows Fahrudin grab Kim by the arm first, as if to push him away, with the two then squaring up in the technical area on the side of the pitch. Kim appears to lower his forehead into Fahrudin's face in what appears to be a headbutt which Fahrudin was seen clutching his face and moving away from Kim. Pedro Henrique went on to scored a header on the 90+4' minute of injury time to secure the three points for the Sailors. After the match, Kim and Fahrudin were seen shaking hands however tension arose again after the match ended as players and staff from both sides began confronting and shoving one another where Fahrudin was seen grabbing Kim's neck at the Sailors bench. The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) handed a three-match ban with immediate effect, with Kim being fined $2,000 and Fahrudin $3,000, for their violent conduct. In addition, the Sailors and Tampines copped a $5,000 fine each for the conduct of their players. Less than 24 hours after Kim was handed a three-match suspension and fine for violent conduct, Lion City Sailors made the shock announcement that they have reached a "mutual agreement" to part ways with head coach Kim Do-hoon. On 12 August 2022, Luka Lalić was appointed as the interim head coach till the end of the 2022 season which on the following day, he guided Lion City Sailors to their biggest ever victory in a 1–10 away win against Young Lions.

On 26 July 2023, the club played their first match in their history at the Singapore National Stadium against Tottenham Hotspur in a friendly match in which Shawal Anuar scored first which give Lion City Sailors the lead against the English giants which they hold up for the first 45 minute but fell to a 5–1 thrashing defeat following poor defensive and communication errors.

The Sailors embarked on their second consecutive AFC Champions League appearances ahead of their 2023–24 campaign together with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, Bangkok United and Kitchee which will see a returned of the home and away fixtures. The club will host most of the AFC Champions League group stage games at the Jalan Besar Stadium as its match the requirements standard of the tournament and also being rated as a FIFA 2 Star Recommended Turf. It will also see the first time the AFC Champions League group stage matches being hosted in Singapore since 2010. On 4 October 2023, Lion City Sailors recorded their first win of the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage campaign against Hong Kong side, Kitchee with goals scored by Richairo Živković and Maxime Lestienne to secured a 2–1 away victory at the Hong Kong Stadium.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 50 FW  SGP Uchenna Eziakor U21 51 DF  SGP Marcus Mosses U21 52 GK  SGP Veer Karan Sobti U21 54 MF  SGP Ihsan Hadi Iswandi U21 55 MF  SGP Jonan Tan En Yuan U21 57 GK  SGP Kaiden Ng U21 58 FW  SGP Izrafil Yusof U21 59 FW  SGP Qaisy Noranzor U21 60 MF  SGP Danie Hafiy U21 61 MF  SGP Nathan Mao U21 62 DF  SGP Luth Hadi U21 64 DF  SGP Idzham Eszuan U21 66 FW  SGP Zakaria Syari U21

No. Pos. Nation Player 68 MF  SGP Rae Peh U21 69 MF  IRL Joshua Little U21 70 MF  SGP Kieran Aryan Azhari U21 71 MF  SGP Yazid Rais U21 72 MF  SGP Amir Mirza U21 73 DF  SGP Aniq Tiryaq U21 74 FW  BEL Nils Vandersmissen U21 75 DF  SGP Gabriel Goh U21 76 DF  SGP Rizqin Aniq U21 77 MF  SGP Nur Muhammad Asis Ijilrali U21 78 DF  SGP Aqil Khusni U21 79 GK  SGP Edgar Leo U21 80 FW  SGP Ilyasin Zayan U21

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  SGP Putra Anugerah Sahrin U21 (to Young Lions) — MF  SGP Justin Hui U23 (National Service until 2023) — DF  SGP Rayyan Ramzdan U21 (National Service until 2024) — MF  SGP Arsyad Basiron U21 (National Service until 2024) — MF  SGP Danie Hafiy U21 (National Service until 2024) — MF  SGP Yasir Nizamudin U21 (National Service until 2024) — MF  SGP Uvayn Kumar U21 (National Service until 2024) — DF  SGP Aniq Raushan U21 (National Service until 2025) — FW  SGP Khairin Nadim U21 (National Service until 2025, to Young Lions) 20 MF  SGP Arshad Shamim (to Geylang International) 24 GK  SGP Rudy Khairullah (to Geylang International)

The following table provides a summary of the coach appointed by the club.

Statistics correct as of 16 Sept 2023

Coach	Career	Pld	W	D	L	Win %	Achievements
Carlos Roberto Pereira	1 January 1996 - 5 June 1997	Unknown
Ibrahim Awang	6 June 1997 - 14 August 1998	Unknown
Robert Alberts	15 August 1998 - 31 December 2001	Unknown					– 1999 S.League – 2000 Singapore Cup – 2001 Singapore Cup
Jason Withe	1 January 2002 - 7 August 2002	Unknown
Yakob Hashim	8 - 31 August 2002	Unknown
Steve Darby	1 September 2002 – 7 November 2005	Unknown					– 2003 S.League – 2003 Singapore Cup – 2005 Singapore Cup
Zsolt Bűcs	13 January 2006 – 30 August 2006	24	11	6	7
Vincent Subramaniam	1 September 2006 – 31 December 2007	8	5	0	3	062.5
P. N. Sivaji	1 January 2008 – 31 December 2009	33	19	5	9	057.6
Lee Lim-saeng	1 January 2010 – 5 December 2014	184	111	32	41	60.3	– 2011 Singapore Cup – 2013 Singapore Cup
Philippe Aw	1 January 2015 – 30 July 2016	55	21	14	20	038.2
Aidil Sharin Sahak	4 August 2016 – 7 October 2018	91	50	17	24	054.9
Saswadimata Dasuki	3 December 2018 – 19 April 2019	12	4	3	5	033.3	– 2019 Singapore Community Shield
Noh Rahman (interim)	19 April 2019 – 1 July 2019	8	3	1	4	037.5
Radojko Avramović	2 July 2019 – 18 August 2019	8	4	1	3	050.0
Noh Rahman (interim)	18 August 2019 – 18 December 2019	7	1	1	5	014.3
Aurelio Vidmar	18 December 2019 – 29 April 2021	22	13	5	4	059.1
Robin Chitrakar (interim)	30 April 2021 – 22 May 2021	3	3	0	0	100.0
Kim Do-hoon	18 May 2021 – 11 August 2022	36	22	8	6	061.1	– 2021 Singapore Premier League – 2022 Singapore Community Shield
Luka Lalic (interim)	12 August 2022 – 31 December 2022	12	5	2	5	041.7
Risto Vidaković	1 January 2022 – 18 June 2023	14	9	3	2	064.3
Daan van Oudheusden (interim)	19 June 2023	1	1	0	0	100.0
Aleksandar Ranković	30 June 2023 – present	9	7	0	2	077.8

+	Player	Club appearances	Total goals
1	Song Ui-young	226	79
2	Stipe Plazibat	64	60
3	Shahril Ishak	140	52
4	Frédéric Mendy	65	47
5	Maxime Lestienne	60	42
6	Qiu Li	84	37
7	Ken Ilsø	54	36
8	Faris Ramli	108	34
9	Ludovick Takam	42	30
10	Diego Lopes	78	29

• Biggest wins: 1-10 vs Young Lions (13 August 2022)
• Heaviest Defeats: 9-1 vs 4.25 SC (28 August 2018)
• Youngest Goal scorers: Irfan Fandi ~ 19 years 2 months 2 days old (On 15 October 2016 vs Balestier Khalsa)
• Oldest Goal scorers: Shahril Ishak ~ 36 years 10 months 12 days (On 5 December 2020 vs Balestier Khalsa)
• Youngest ever debutant: Nathan Mao ~ 15 years and 5 days old (On 31 March 2023 vs Tampines Rovers)