No change in funding for S.League in 2017

SINGAPORE – The funding status for the new S.League season will remain status quo, with the uncertainty around the situation being resolved on Friday (Jan 13) night.

All six local clubs will receive the same amount of funding - S$800,000 - as they did last season. They were informed about it at a meeting between the various club chairmen and key officials at Jalan Besar Stadium.

Most clubs rely on the annual subsidies provided by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) each season to run their operations. Each S.League club operates on a yearly budget of between S$1.2 million and S$1.5 million, with Tote Board’s annual subsidy contributing some S$800,000 to that amount.

The latest five-year funding cycle ended after last season. TODAY reported earlier this month that starting this year, the annual Tote Board grant of around S$25m to FAS for football development and the S.League will be administered by Sport Singapore (SportSG). This is opposed to the direct channelling of funds by Tote Board to FAS in previous years.

This change in disbursement method has not affected the amount the clubs will receive for the 2017 season, with the key performance indicators to meet for the funding also remaining the same.

“Whatever the clubs were getting last year, we are getting this year,” Tampines Rovers vice-chairman Christopher Wong told TODAY. “To me, in this economic climate, it is good news and it really puts the clubs at ease because previously funding was (made) known in November or December. But this year because of this uncertainty, it has dragged on to January and I am glad this has been put to bed… because the league starts next month.”

Clubs had been advised to hold off from signing new players after the 2016 season ended, as the league had yet to finalise the amount of funding they will receive from the Tote Board then. While some clubs have already made their moves and are close to finalizing their teams, it is understood that a few others were still waiting on the funding situation to be cleared up before they signed players.

Home United chief executive Azrulnizam Shah welcomed the decision, noting that it finally allows clubs to firm up their plans ahead of the first game of the season on Feb 26.

“I think it’s good that it’s been settled, it is good for us to finally move on and execute our programmes accordingly,” he told TODAY. “I sincerely hope that there will be better forward planning (in future) because that’s the fundamental issue now, but at the end of the day I definitely think it’s positive (this has been resolved).”

He also believes that the clubs have to step up their game to prove themselves worthy of funding in future.

“It’s up to everyone in the (local) football community to show that we are worth funding by going above and beyond (just being) a football club,” he explained. “We (have to) engage the community, run programmes, market ourselves properly so that there’s no more doubts on this.”

The format of the S.League will remain the same as last season, with the nine teams playing each other thrice. The 2017 season will start with the season-opening Community Shield between defending league champions Albirex Niigata (S) and runners-up Tampines.

CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article stated that all nine clubs will receive the same amount of funding - $800,000 - as last season. This is inaccurate. Only the six local S.League clubs receive up to $800,00 in funding.