SINGAPORE — The format of the national schools football competition will undergo a major revamp next year as part of the Football Association of Singapore’s (FAS) development plan for youth football.

Two sub-tournaments — the Schools Champions League (SCL) and the Schools National League (SNL) — will be introduced to the schools competition, which will be held from January to June.

Details of the impending changes were unveiled by FAS technical director Michel Sablon to members of the local football community at a presentation at the Fullerton Hotel yesterday.

Widely recognised as the man who transformed Belgium into a footballing powerhouse, Mr Sablon’s aim is to develop a “Singaporean style of play” within the next six years. The 68-year-old Belgian, who joined the FAS last year, defined this style as “fast-passing, offensive football based on a winning spirit”.

Mr Sablon’s comprehensive plan detailed improvements in 11 main areas of Singapore football such as the utilisation of sport science and medicine, coaches’ education, as well as the changes in the format of the schools competition.

According to the FAS, the Ministry of Education and the FAS are in the final phase of discussions for the SCL and SNL.

Under the current competition format, schools are divided into four groups in each of the four zones (North, South, East and West). The top two teams from each group progress to their respective zonal knockout stages. Teams that reach the zone semi-finals also qualify for the national championships.

Starting next year, the 16 schools that top their respective groups in the zones (four groups per zone) will advance to the SCL. They will be divided into four groups and will play home-and-away round-robin matches. The top two schools from each group will progress to the knockout stages.

Meanwhile, the SNL will be made up of the rest of the schools — estimated to be about 80 — that do not qualify for the SCL. The teams will be divided into four groups in each of the four zones, with the winner of each group moving onto the Round of 16 knockout stage to vie for the SNL title.

According to Mr Sablon, the new SCL and SNL formats will provide each school with an extra four competitive matches a year which, he said, will help school players develop even further.

“In the previous (format), schools eliminated during the group stages would have no more football to play for the rest of the year,” he said. “But now, each team will get more game time, and this will be beneficial for the players.

“Just because a team does not qualify for the national championships doesn’t mean they do not have good players. The SCL and SNL will give us additional chances to better assess the players from each school and identify potential talent.”

Mr Mohamed Zainudeen, head coach of football powerhouse Hong Kah Secondary, hailed the impending format changes.

“It’s a good idea because there is an attempt to give all schools more playing time,” he said.

“At this stage (in a player’s career), it should not be all about winning but gaining as much competitive exposure instead. It is a holistic approach that bodes well in the long run.”

In line with the changes to the schools competition, several other tweaks will also be made to the youth football competitions calendar.

Centre-of-excellence (COE) competitions will now begin in the second half of the year so as not to clash with the schools competition. They will involve teams at the Under-15 age group and above.

There will be no COE tournaments for the Under-14s and below. Instead, they will dedicate their time to training and strategically planned friendly matches.

Mr Sablon explained: “This will allow players to have more time for training and technical development.

“They will also face less exposure to the risk of injuries and fatigue.”

Clarification: In an earlier version of this article, we reported the Football Association of Singapore as saying that the Ministry of Education had agreed to the new formats for the schools national football championships being implemented next year. The FAS, which provided the information, has clarified that it is actually in the final phase of discussions with the MOE on this issue.