The 1996 S.League was the 1st season of the S.League, the top professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The S.League came into existence as a result of a fragmenting of relations between Singapore and Malaysian football associations. A dispute over the division of gate receipts for the Singapore representative in the Malaysian Premier League saw Singapore withdraw from the competition in 1995, ending a footballing connection between the two nations that stretched back to 1921, with the first participation of a Singapore team in the Malaya Cup. The semi-professional

FAS Premier League The Football Association of Singapore Premier League was a semi-professional football league competition held in Singapore between 1988 and 1995. The Premier League succeeded the National Football League Division One as the top tier of the Singapo ...

was founded in 1988, but had failed to find support amongst the local communities and media. The S.League was therefore created to fill the need to have a fully professional football league within Singapore. The

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

invited applications for clubs to compete in the newly formed league. Eight successful applications were made, these eight teams took part in a two-stage league season, with the winner of each stage qualifying for the end of season championship decider. The first half of the season was known as the Tiger Beer Series and the second half was known as the Pioneer Series. Geylang United defeated

Singapore Armed Forces FC Warriors Football Club was a Singaporean professional Association football, football club based in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore, that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on ...

in the end of season championship Playoff to be crowned the 1st S.League champions.

Clubs

Eight sides took part in the first S.League campaign; two of whom had been competitors in the former

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as the SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), wh ...

. These former Premier League clubs were Balestier United FC who changed their name upon joining the S.League to Balestier Central and the former Singapore Premier League powerhouse Geylang International, winners of six back-to-back Premier League titles, who renamed themselves Geylang United for the first S.League season. The rest were clubs drawn from the amateur National Football League:

Police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A component of the Ministry of Defence (Singapore), Ministry of D ...

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club (currently known as BG Tampines Rovers due to sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football, football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of t ...

, Tiong Bahru United and Wellington Football Club, who renamed themselves

Woodlands Wellington Woodlands Wellington Football Club was a professional association football, football club based in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands, Singapore which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club took part in S.League ...

. Sembawang Rangers were formed from a merger between two NFL sides, Gibraltar Crescent and Sembawang Sports Club.

Foreign players

League tables

Series 1 (Tiger Beer Series)

Series 2 (Pioneer Series)

S.League Championship Playoff

The Geylang United victory in the Championship Playoff saw them qualify for the 1997–98 Asian Club Championship. This was the first Singaporean representation in the Asian Club Championship since 1991–92, when Geylang International participated in 1st Round qualifying. Geylang were comfortably defeated by 1996 J.League champions

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

in the first round of the East Asian half of the competition, Kashima finishing with an 8–2 aggregate win.

Top scorers

References

* {{S-League Singapore Premier League seasons 1

Sing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...