SINGAPORE — With the Singapore Premier League (SPL) kicking off this month, eight of the league’s nine clubs will be playing at four designated stadiums they have to share this season.

Mr Yazeen Buhari, secretary-general of FAS, said at a press conference on Tuesday (Feb 19) that the move was aimed at consolidating resources, optimising commercial value for the clubs and improving the match day experience for fans.

The change will mean that out of the eight clubs, four will have to move out of their home grounds.

• Balestier Khalsa FC, based in Toa Payoh Stadium, will be moving to Bishan Stadium, which hosts Home United FC.

• Hougang United FC, which have been playing at Hougang Stadium, will share facilities with the Young Lions at Jalan Besar Stadium.  

• Warriors FC, anchored at Choa Chu Kang Stadium, will use Jurong East Stadium, the home turf of Japanese club Albirex Niigata FC.

• Geylang International FC will make their way from Bedok Stadium to share space with Tampines Rovers FC, which are based at Our Tampines Hub.

​The remaining club, Brunei DPMM, will continue to play their home games at Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium in Brunei.

Mr Yazeen added that the shared stadiums will be a “semi-permanent” move, lasting about three to four years.

An FAS spokesperson said that there will be “room for changes” depending on the stadiums that are built in the future, such as the upcoming Regional Sports Centre in Punggol.

The latest move has drawn mixed responses from the football clubs as well as their fans. While some look forward to having better facilities and attracting more fans, others are concerned that they will lose their fan base and their home advantage.

When asked if the shared stadiums will disadvantage clubs who cannot train at their home stadium regularly, FAS told TODAY that its priority is to ensure that all teams have a venue for training, similar to how some clubs in other countries operate — where training and competitive venues are separate.

Mr Yazeen also said that while the clubs will play their games at the shared stadiums, the four that have to play away from their home grounds will continue to train in their home bases. For instance, Hougang United will continue to train in Hougang Stadium, but will play its games at Jalan Besar Stadium. It will also get to train at Jalan Besar stadium one day before the match.

Mr Yazeen said: "There's a consolidation of resources so that there's a focus on each of these four stadiums to have programmes purely for football — more football-centric."

"Secondly, (when) you have a stadium like that with an infrastructure upgrade, it creates more opportunities for commercial optimisation for the clubs."

He added that the stadiums will be upgraded to include features such as bucket seats and high-speed Internet for live-streaming. Each stadium will also have four dressing rooms to cater to both clubs sharing the stadium as well as away teams.

Some of the clubs informed TODAY that they are liaising with Sport Singapore — a statutory board of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth — to work out a training schedule at the shared stadiums.

SHARED SPACE ‘DOESN’T MAKE SENSE’

Mr Paul Poh, general manager of Warriors, is concerned that the club could lose its home advantage given that it will have to move from a grass pitch at Chua Chu Kang Stadium to synthetic turf at Jurong East Stadium.  

While the club will get to train at Jurong East Stadium a day before a match, Mr Poh does not think this will be good for players.

“It doesn’t make sense. In a long-term training programme, the player will not be trained on artificial turf. How does training for one day on artificial turf make a difference?”

Mr Poh also said that the shared stadiums may make it difficult for clubs to find sponsors.

“Different teams have different sponsors. For example, Albirex Niigata’s sponsor is Canon. If (Warriors) get another printing company as a sponsor, the sponsors may not be happy to have their logos hanging side by side at the stadium.”

Mr Darwin Jalil, deputy director of Balestier Khalsa, said that having shared facilities is a “good concept” and the team have plans to expand their fan base in Bishan.

“Currently, every club is filling up 10 to 20 per cent of the full capacity of stadium. By putting our resources together, we can concentrate on the four stadiums.”

However, he also said that they will likely lose the fans’ support it had garnered if they were to shift grounds again after four years.

For Geylang International, leaving the older Bedok Stadium to play and train at the relatively new stadium at Our Tampines Hub with better facilities is a welcomed move.

General manager Andrew Ang said: “I believe we can win more fans there. Our Tampines Hub naturally attracts people to visit it due to the shopping centres nearby. It’s just a question of branding and marketing.”

To allay concerns that the shared stadium could dilute the identities of clubs, Mr Yazeen said that the FAS had met with fan clubs such as the Hougang Hools last December, to explain the rationale for the changes.

"They're valid concerns because (the fans) have always been ever-present at Hougang Stadium and ever-present at each and every away game.

"They have a certain connection to the place, but we explained to them that this investment in the shared stadiums is to increase the match-day experience, and given the infrastructure that exists in Hougang Stadium, to upgrade (it)… was seen as a less likely, (less) attractive (option) compared to doing it at Jalan Besar.”

OTHER CHANGES FOR THE LEAGUE

The FAS also announced other changes to the SPL on Tuesday.

• The squad size of clubs will be bumped up from 25 to 28 players. The three extra players will be allowed to be from the open category where there is no age limit.

• Clubs may now sign two foreign players and one foreign player who is Under-21 at the point of registration.

• League title-holders Albirex Niigata will be allowed to sign a minimum of four Singaporean Under-21 players, up from two last year. They will be required to start a minimum of two Singaporean players for each game, and have two such players play throughout the first half of the game. The Japanese side had won the SPL three months before the 2018 season concluded, without losing a single match. It had also won the previous two S-League titles. The S-League is the predecessor to the SPL.

While there were suggestions that the changes were introduced to give Singapore clubs a headstart over the Japanese side, Mr Yazeen said that the inclusion of Singaporeans in the team will allow younger players to learn from the club.

“The inclusion of Singaporean players in the roster this year is not part of wanting to make (Albirex Niigata) less dominant. We wanted Albirex to be an environment where young Singaporeans can learn and that’s something that they readily wanted to take on as well, as that is part of their longer-term reach here, to gradually add more Singapore players.”

Mr Ko Po Hui, 43, a football blogger who follows the local scene closely, said that despite efforts to rebrand the S-League to the SPL, there is still “a lot of work to be done”.

“These changes appear to be merely cosmetic. What most fans want is a better standard of football on the field, which should always be the core focus in any change.”

On the feedback that the inaugural season of the SPL had not lived up to its hype, the FAS told TODAY that its latest initiatives were part of steps to boost the league and that 2018 set a “good foundation” for the league to build upon.

Responding to criticism that the quota set last year — for each team to have six Singaporean Under-23 players — has lowered the standards of the league, Mr Yazeen said that the change had been well-received, with clubs going beyond the six required.

While there was some debate over whether players should be selected based on merit or regulations, Mr Yazeen said that over the course of the season, some of the Under-23 players had “proven their worth” and were seen by coaches as “core players” to the club.

BRINGING BACK FOREIGN TALENT

As part of the changes to the new season of SPL, Singapore clubs will be allowed to sign three foreign players this season, up from two from the previous season, with one being Under-21.

Mr Yazeen Buhari, secretary-general of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), said: "One of the thought processes is to see how we could bring back the Foreign Talent scheme. Bringing (in) these Under-21 players does not mean that we will want to make any of them foreign talent, but it gives opportunities for us to see younger foreign players who may want to have their career in Singapore."

Mr Yazeen added that Song Ui-young, who plays for Home United, had been identified for the scheme, with his application being “assessed positively” by the relevant government ministries.

Song was viewed as someone who was “very much grounded” in Singapore, he said.

“The FAS sees strength in him and sees the value that he can bring. From a ministry’s standpoint, he is very much involved in grassroots events in the community.

“The fact that he decided to forgo a very lucrative deal in Indonesia with the aim of wanting to stay here as a Singaporean, I think that went down very well with (the ministries),” Mr Yazeen said.