SINGAPORE, 6 JANUARY 2013: The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) and its principal sponsor, StarHub today unveiled the 2013 LionsXII squad, which will compete in the Malaysian Super League (MSL), Malaysia Cup and FA Cup, at the Lions’ Den @ Jalan Besar Stadium.  

 

The new 29-man squad, comprising a mix of youth and experience, looks set to better their 2012 MSL campaign. The new Lions in the squad, Fazrul Nawaz, Iqbal Hussain and Hafiz Sujad are expected to provide fresh inputs to tried and tested members of squad like Hariss Harun, Irwan Shah and Safuwan Baharudin. The senior members of the team will anchor the squad and boost our chances of besting the opposition.

 

At today’s press conference, FAS and its official apparel partner, Nike, unveiled a fresh look for the 2013 season with new Home and Away kits. Keeping with tradition, the Home kit will be red and the Away kit, blue. 

 

Following the success of the 2012 ASEAN Football Federation Suzuki Cup Championship, the level of fan support for football has increased and we expect to see a deluge of fans in red at stadiums at home and away matches. With the support for the team hitting new levels and to meet the demands of our loyal fans, the FAS, following a successful trial, has secured TicketBooth as its exclusive ticketing partners. All tickets for the 2013 MSL season will be available through online bookings; TicketBooth’s 12 outlets and all AXS machines island-wide from Monday, 7 January 2013, 12pm onwards.

 

The President of FAS, Mr Zainudin Nordin, in his address said: “Rain or shine, the fans have been unselfish in their support for the Lions and FAS. We will go all out to give our best and we hope for the fans continued support. The MSL also offers our young Lions to show what they have to offer and that would be the best showcase for our ongoing youth development programmes. As for the corporate support, we are especially grateful to Starhub, Nike and all our sponsors, for their generous support and the FAS appreciate the support and it looks forward to collaborating with them over a long-term period.”

 

V Sundramoorthy who will again be the coach of the LionsXII, promised that his charges will put up a good display. “The LionsXII squad has been working together as a team and we have remained unbeaten in our pre-season preparations which serve as an excellent opportunity for us to build on for the 2013 season. We are ready for the MSL and we will put up a consistent and good display for our fans from the first game,” he said.

 

Ms Jeannie Ong, Head, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations, StarHub added “The LionsXII has grown from strength to strength. They proved their critics wrong when they came in second in their debut Malaysia Super League season. Who can forget their biggest victory when they thrashed Sabah 9-0 at this very stadium in June 2012. They also made it to the semi-final of the 2012 Malaysia Cup.

 

As the official broadcaster and principal sponsor of LionsXII, StarHub is extremely proud of the LionsXII. We are thrilled to be associated with LionsXII by having our logo emblazoned on their new jersey. We have no doubt that they will continue to do us proud. StarHub remains committed to supporting LionsXII with unceasing passion and we hope to share and ignite that passion in all Singaporeans through our promise to bring them unparalleled coverage of all the LionsXII action on SuperSports Arena (StarHub TV Channel 201) and all Home matches on Sports HD (StarHub TV Channel 255).”

 

LionsXII will kick off their 2013 season on 9 January 2013 with an away match at the Tuanku Abdul Stadium, Negeri Sembilan against newly promoted, ATM FA.

 

All LionsXII matches will be shown for free on SuperSports Arena (StarHub TV Channels 112 and 201) and StarHub TV on Mobile, which are available to all StarHub TV subscribers and StarHub Mobile post-paid subscribers respectively. Customers who are subscribed to the Sports Group will be able to enjoy the exciting football action in full HD splendour on Sports HD (StarHub TV Channel 255). LionsXII matches will also be available on StarHub’s Internet TV service, TV Anywhere (accessible on starhubtv.com).