Press Releases ● Nov 16, 2017
35th FAS Annual Congress With An Eye On Youth Development For The Future
SINGAPORE, 16 NOVEMBER 2017: The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) today held its 35th Annual Congress at Holiday Inn Singapore Orchard City Centre. A key highlight was the announcement of plans to revamp the youth development eco-system with a bottom-up framework tapping on FAS’ technical expertise and utilising existing capabilities with relevant partners and stakeholders. This will involve changes from primary schools to tertiary schools which in turn will funnel into the S.League.
“We’ve had a busy year with many challenges faced but we have also been active in enacting changes on various aspects of the game and for various stakeholders. With these new plans focusing on young talent, we hope to widen the base of the footballing community by creating ample opportunities to pick up the sport and compete. This will lead to a larger talent pool from which we can elevate players to the highest level with the National Teams,” said Mr Lim Kia Tong, President, Football Association of Singapore.
Youth Development Framework
The FAS identified three key pillars as part of the new framework – widening the base of youth footballers, improving the quality of coaching, and increasing the number of opportunities to play and compete.
With 3,000 active players in schools today, the aim is to progressively increase to 13,000 active players in school by 2022, including the drive to increase the participation of girls. FAS plans to engage 10 new primary schools and five new secondary schools to offer football as a co-curricular activity every year till 2022. This will boost the number of schools taking part from the current 74 primary schools and 84 secondary schools to 124 primary schools and 109 secondary schools in 2022.
The FAS will also explore the possibility of all schools fielding multiple teams and to introduce “Cup, Plate, and Bowl” tournaments for teams that have been eliminated from the main tournament early to increase opportunities to play. Working in tandem with schools, FAS will provide its Technical Manual to schools, train teachers and provide improved coaching development. This will extend to assisting new schools with equipping themselves as well as the provision of guidance in the first year.
In addition, 15 School Football Academies (SFA) will be progressively created by 2020 in a bid to increase competition among perennial powerhouse schools such as Singapore Sports School. Additional competitions will be offered alongside Ministry of Education (MOE) organised competitions to provide increased opportunities to compete with teams of the same calibre. This will lead to additional schools capable of producing National Team players.
Furthermore, Junior Centres of Excellence (JCOEs) will now be converted into Development Centres (DCs). The National Football Academy (NFA) will now be renamed as the FAS Football Academy (FFA) and will be accorded the same status as Development Centres. Private academies and clubs will also be permitted to run FAS-accredited DCs, subject to these academies meeting certain criteria, to widen the base of young players training at the elite level.
Extension to the S.League
In line with the theme of youth development, another key topic that was discussed on the sidelines of the Congress was the plan to focus on youth development in the S.League. On this, the FAS has identified four key pillars – total youth development, increased capability development, sharing of cost efficiencies and the creation of a vibrant football culture.
The FAS intends to introduce competition rules for the S.League’s six local clubs to recruit at least six Under-23 footballers for their squads, with a minimum of three Under-23 players to feature in the starting 11 for each match. The FAS is in the midst of finalising the details as part of a review on the S.League which is to be announced at a later date.
S.League clubs will play a key role in community outreach to adopt schools within their zones to create total involvement in the footballing fraternity. This is to ensure that a much larger catchment of boys and girls will have access to the clubs, who can provide syllabus assistance and mentoring programmes. This will ultimately pave the way to create a system where promising talent can be funnelled to the S.League and to the National Team.
Engaging the youth to create a vibrant football culture does not stop there and will involve parents. The FAS is exploring ways to improve the structure of the S.League such as bringing forward the timings of fixtures so that parents have an option of taking their children to games at a more convenient time of the weekend.
Partnership with Sports Hub Pte Ltd (SHPL)
Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Singapore Sports Hub Oon Jin Teik has come forward to strongly support the FAS in realising the vision of making the National Stadium the ‘Home of the Lions’.
Mr Oon has grand plans that are set to benefit the whole spectrum of the football ecosystem. In addition to National Team matches, discussions are also being held to play S.League curtain raisers, Cup finals, as well as women’s and youth football matches in the stadium. Football fans can also look forward to events such as stadium tours and football festivals.
A Memorandum of Understanding between the FAS and Sports Hub Pte Ltd will be signed soon.
35th Annual Congress
Upon the approval of the Congress Agenda, FAS President Mr Lim Kia Tong highlighted key accomplishments of the past Financial Year such as the revamp of the formats of the National Football League and Women’s Premier League as well as new partnerships with Sport Singapore (SportSG).
The Judicial Bodies, comprising the Disciplinary, Ethics and Appeal Committees, Audit and Compliance Committee and Electoral and Electoral Appeal Committee were also elected during the Congress. The FAS Council, affiliates, guests and staff as well as the candidates standing for elections were in attendance. Of the 28 Ordinary Members present, 24 were eligible to vote in accordance to the FAS Constitution Article 24.2.
Results of the Elections
FAS Judicial Bodies – Disciplinary Committee
Chairperson: Mr Bala Chandran S/o A Kandiah
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Intekhab Ahmad Khan S/o Teffail Mohamed Khan
Member: Mr Andre Darius Jumabhoy
Mr Daniel Leong Kok Peng
Mr Franco Radewaldt
Mr Ravindran S/o Ramasamy
Mr Ruthra S/o Ramamuthi
Mr Senthilan S/o Selvarajoo
Ms Vivienne Lim Hui Bian
FAS Judicial Bodies – Ethics Committee
Chairperson: Mr Beh Eng Siew
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Hamidul Haq
Member: Mr Mannar Rajkumar
Ms Nurul Ain Binte Nordin
FAS Judicial Bodies – Appeal Committee
Chairperson: Mr Abdul Salim Ahmed Ibrahim
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Aziz Tayabali Samiwalla
Member: Mr Heng Thong How Adrian
Mr Mathavan S/o Devadas
FAS Audit and Compliance Committee
Chairperson: Mr Jackson Chevalier Yap Kit Siong
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Tan Seng Hua
Member: Mr Panthradil George Samuel
FAS Electoral Committee
Chairperson: Mr Ng Yong Ern Raymond
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Krishna Ramakrishna Sharma
Member: Mr Aw Hai Ming, Jason
FAS Electoral Appeal Committee
Chairperson: Mr Eu Hai Meng
Deputy Chairperson: Mr Low Jin Liang
Member: Mr Amardeep Singh S/o Gurcharan Singh
Please click here for a copy of the FAS President Mr Lim Kia Tong’s speech at the 35th Congress.
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE
