Sporting Afrique FC

Sporting Afrique Football Club was a professional football club which played in Singapore's S.League in 2006. The team was made of players from an African descent. The squad consisted of young players from Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya and Ghana.[1] In allowing Sporting Afrique to join the league, the S.League hoped that their involvement would make the competition more exciting, and possibly unearth some good players who might be able to change their nationality to Singaporean and thus play for the Singapore national football team in the future.

Sporting Afrique
Full nameSporting Afrique Football Club
Nickname(s)The Flamingos
Founded2006
Dissolved2007
GroundYishun Stadium
Yishun, Singapore
Capacity3,400
ChairmanCollin Chee
ManagerR. Balasubramaniam
LeagueS.League
2006S.League, 9th of 11


History

Sporting Afrique started off their debut 2006 S.League season in a 2-1 win over Woodlands Wellington in their first home match at the sold-out crowd, Yishun Stadium. The stadium was packed of African continent supporters. The club finished in 9th place out of 11 teams in the S.League in the first and last season.

Controversies

Sporting Afrique were involved in a number of off-field controversies, and their application to participate in the S.League again in 2007 was rejected by the FAS.[2] The club played its home games at the Yishun Stadium.


In June 2006, it was reported that, while the players had been promised monthly salaries of S$1,600 (~US$1,000), they only received S$100 a month (~US$60), as S$700 was deducted for food (reportedly a monotonous diet of rice and chicken), and S$800 for accommodation despite all 22 team members living 5 or 6 per room in the same house in an area where a typical house rental was around S$3,000. They barely can go anywhere other than the stadium as they find travel is too expensive and their contracts also forbade talking to the media, but team members contacted the BBC anonymously, drawing international attention. Club president Collin Chee, who had initially claimed to be "not short-changing any of them", eventually backed down and agreed to raise their salaries to S$600, with performance bonuses and better housing.[3] It was revealed that one of the players, Jacques Ngo’o turned down a bribe of more than $5,000 ahead of an S-League match. Despite the attempted bribe which amounted to several times the player monthly salary, the player’s decision to displayed the honesty and integrity still show the good hearted among the African player's. [4]

Seasons
Season Pos P W D L F A Pts Singapore Cup
2006 9th 305916365824 Preliminary

Notable players

All the players that leave the club following the club dissolvement

 Cameroon

  • Kaze Teffo Etienne (He played for Singapore club, Balestier Khalsa in 2007 and then play in USA and Hungary)
  • Jacques Ngo'o (Played his career in Indonesia from 2008-2015)
  • Christian Priso (Retired)


 Ghana

  • Frederick Addai (Retired)
  • Musah Ibrahim (Retired)


 Kenya

  • Thomas Biketi (Played his career in Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Nepal)
  • Harrison Muranda (Played his career in Maldives, Malaysia, Vietnam, India and Ethiopia)
  • Nicholas Muyoti (Played his career in India from 2006-2008)
  • Christopher Wekesa (Played his career in his native country)


 Nigeria

  • Udo Fortune (He played for Singapore club, Balestier Khalsa in 2007 then play in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Israel and Malta)
  • Lucky Diokpara (Played for Indonesia club, Persisko Merangin in 2013)
  • Lukmon Anifaloyin (Played his career in Australia from 2008-2016)
  • Peter Lipede (Played his career in Indonesia from 2007-2014)
  • Sergio Yaale (Played for Indonesia club, Persik Kediri in 2007)
  • Obot Udoaka (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the National Football League, Admiralty FC in 2007)
  • Julius Ejueyitsi (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the National Football League, Admiralty FC in 2007 then play in Malaysia and Myanmar)
  • Michael Onyia (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the National Football League, Eunos Crescent in 2007 then play in Bangladesh)
  • Segun Adebayo (Retired)
  • Agofure Churchill (Retired)
  • Kehinde Hussani Badmus (Retired)
  • Ferdinand Nnodim (Retired)
  • Ifesinachi Nwaigwe (Retired)
  • Nwankwo Ogochukwu (Retired)
  • Udorji Nzekwesi (Retired)
  • Samuel Umoh (Retired)


 Singapore

  • Udo Fidelis Chika (originally of Nigerian nationality)

Coach
  • Singapore R. Balasubramaniam (2006 – 2007)

References
  1. Rutherford, Peter (19 January 2007). "Sporting gives Africans chance to shine in S'pore". Reuters. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  2. Tan, Kenneth (10 March 2019). "Turning full circle: Family man Collin Chee opens up on abrupt departure from Singapore football and coming back with Dads for Life". JupiterFutbol. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  3. "Hopes dashed in Singapore". BBC Sports. 14 June 2006. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  4. Thomas Biketi’s Sporting Afrique set to disband Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
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