Albirex Niigata (S)

, simply known as Albirex Niigata (S), is a football club based in Jurong East, Singapore, which plays in the Singapore Premier League. The club is a satellite team of Albirex Niigata of Japan. Mostly the team is made up of university students from Japan and also academy players from J1 League.

The club have won 6 league titles (including one unbeaten title), 4 Singapore Cup, 4 Singapore League Cup and 4 Community Shield.

Former Albirex players who have gone on to forge decent J.League careers include former league 'Players of the Year' award winners, Atsushi Kawata (2016) and Tomoyuki Doi (2021), while Issey Nakajima-Farran even went on to play in Major League Soccer in the United States and Ilhan Fandi who went on to play for the Belgium 2nd division club, Deinze in Europe.

Notably, the club also implement a professional code of conduct to instill discipline, good behaviour and team spirit. This includes a ban on hair dye, a punctuality clause where players are fined if they are late for training with no valid reason, and scrubbing footballs together after training.

The club then improved its league performance finishing 7th in the 2008 season, 3rd in the 2012 season and as champions in the 2016 season. The club did not lose a match in their 2018 season.

History

2004–2010: Beginning and history of the club

Albirex Niigata Singapore, a satellite team of Japanese club Albirex Niigata, joined the S. League in 2004. It was in that year the Football Association of Singapore decided to invite foreign teams in the league in a bid to deal with poor attendance issues. For the first years of the club's participation in the league it has settled in the mid-table in the standings.

In 2008, Daisuke Korenaga became chairman of the club who introduced reforms in the club in order to improve its standing in the league. Among these was to secure sponsorship from Japanese companies with presence in Singapore, with the club having as many as 50 sponsors and improved fan engagement by setting up a Cheer Dance School and an academy.

2011–2013: First silverware in club history.

2011 was a great start for Albirex Niigata Singapore as midway throughout 2011, head coach, Koichi Sugiyama leads them to all the way to final of the 2011 Singapore League Cup and guiding the White Swans to their first ever piece of silverware in the club history. Sugiyama also guided them to the 2011 Singapore Cup but eventually conceded a goal in the very last minute of extra time against Home United. In August 2014, he left Albirex to signed with Thailand club, Ayutthaya.

2014–2016: Cup's double and clean sweep

Tatsuyuki Okuyama who had spent his entire career in hometown club, Albirex Niigata who once coached youth teams of Albirex after his playing career ended and also the Albirex Niigata Ladies, has decided to signed as the head coach for Albirex Niigata Singapore. Okuyama was Sugiyama's assistant coach during the 2013 season, which will see Okuyama succeeding him in being the head coach for the White Swans for the upcoming 2014 season. The following season, he guided the team to win the 2015 Singapore League Cup and the 2015 Singapore Cup.

After 6 years since his first charge of the club in 2009, Naoki Naruo re-joined Albirex Niigata Singapore, replacing Tatsuyuki Okuyama as head coach. Naruo led the White Swans to being the first club in Singapore football history to achieved all the unprecedented sweep of all four of the possible league's major trophies, the 2016 S.League, 2016 Singapore Cup, 2016 Singapore League Cup and the 2016 Singapore Community Shield which led to him being named the 2016 S.League Coach of the Year. On 3 November 2016, two days after winning the league championship, Naruo announced that he is leaving the newly crowned champions.

2017: Invincible season by Kazuaki Yoshinaga

On 2 December 2016, Kazuaki Yoshinaga was appointed head coach of Albirex Niigata (S). In his first year, Yoshinaga guided them to retained the 2017 S.League title and also and also winning the 2017 S.League Coach of the Year. He also extended his contract with the White Swans for another year coaching them for the revamped 2018 Singapore Premier League (SPL) season which saw Yoshinaga guiding them to an invincible season, winning the SPL title without defeat and also all of the possible titles in Singapore professional football: 2018 Singapore Cup and 2018 Singapore Community Shield, while he also won the league's 2018 Coach of the Year award for the second successive year. Due to Yoshinaga's impressive work with Albirex Niigata Singapore, he returned to Japan in 2019 as the parent club, Albirex Niigata appointed him initially as their academy manager before being appointed as a team manager in April the same year.

2021–2023: Consecutive champions

In April 2021, Yoshinaga returned to Albirex Niigata Singapore as the Technical Director, before becoming the Manager once again in 2022 guiding them to win the 2022 Singapore Premier League title and also winning the league's 2022 Coach of the Year award for the third time.

On 28 December 2021, Albirex Niigata Singapore announced the signing of former Southampton forward and Japanese legend, Tadanari Lee who famously comes on as a substitute in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup Final held in Qatar and scoring his first international goal to secure a 1–0 win over Australia which gives Japan their fourth Asian Cup success. Lee had also won the 2017 AFC Champions League with Urawa Red Diamonds and the J1 League title with Yokohama F. Marinos in 2019. It was reported that the one-year contract will see him earn about $12,000 per month.

On 1 December 2022, Yoshinaga extended his contract and will continue to lead the team for the upcoming 2023 season. The following season, he help them to win the 2023 Singapore Premier League title and the 2023 Singapore Community Shield

2024–present: Localisation and decline

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the club, on 13 September 2023, Albirex Niigata Singapore announced that from the 2024 season, the club, which has historically featured mainly Japanese players in its senior team, is shifting its focus towards a players mainly composed of predominantly Singaporean players roster which in line with this change, It aims to participate in AFC tournaments such as the AFC Champions League Two, depending on the club league performances. The club also announced that local brand, Fifty50 which was established in 2023, as their apparel partnership for the season. Albirex Niigata Singapore announced in December 2023 that they have sign veteran, Yohei Otake from J2 League side V-Varen Nagasaki, Yojiro Takahagi from FC Tokyo and the club first ever Nigerian-Japanese footballer, Stevia Egbus Mikuni for their 2024 campaign. Albirex Niigata Singapore also signed U-21 Japanese-Iraqi footballer, Arya Igami Tarhani and former player, Shuhei Hoshino who returned to the club after six years since the 2018 season. The club suffered their heaviest defeat since 2009 in a 7–1 lost to league rivals Lion City Sailors on 23 June 2024. They went on to suffered another back-to-back thrashing losing to Geylang International 6–0 on 6 July 2024. After a string of disappointment results of five losing streaks, head coach Kazuaki Yoshinaga left the club on 13 July 2024. His assistant, Keiji Shigetomi will take over as interim head coach. Albirex Niigata (S) also seen their worst defeat to minnows Young Lions on 28 March 2025 during the 2024–25 Singapore Cup final group stage fixtures losing 7–1 to them.

Affiliated clubs

The following clubs are affiliated with Albirex Niigata Singapore

* Albirex Niigata (S) Ladies ( Women's Premier League)
* Albirex Niigata (J1 League)
* Albirex Niigata Ladies (WE League)
* Japan Soccer College (Hokushinetsu Football League)
* Albirex Niigata Barcelona (Quarta Catalana)

Former affiliated club

* Albirex Niigata Phnom Penh (Cambodian Premier League)
* Os Belenenses ( Liga 3)
* Deinze (Challenger Pro League)

Sponsors

Stadium

The Swan's home ground is the 2,700 capacity Jurong East Stadium, located in the West side of Singapore. It is used both for football matches and community events.

Players

First-team squad

^U23
U23

^{FP U21}

^{FP U21}

^{U21
FP U21}

On loan

^{FP U21} (to BG Tampines Rovers FC)
(to Young Lions)
(NS till Jul 2025)
(NS till Dec 2025)
(NS till Jan 2026)
(NS till Jun 2026)
(NS till Jun 2026)
(NS till Jun 2026)

Club officials

Honours

''Bold is for those competition that are currently active.''

Notable seasons

* Double: 2015, 2023
* Treble: 2016, 2018
* Quadruple: 2017

Personal awards

Domestic

* League Player of the Year
** Fumiya Kogure (2015)
** Atsushi Kawata (2016)
** Kento Nagasaki (2017)
** Wataru Murofushi (2018)
** Kodai Tanaka (2022)

* League Young Player of the Year
** Issey Nakajima-Farran (2005)
** Tatsuro Inui (2011)
** Adam Swandi (2018)
** Ilhan Fandi (2022)
** Seia Kunori (2023)

* League Coach of the Year
** Koichi Sugiyama (2011)
** Naoki Naruo (2016)
** Kazuaki Yoshinaga (2017, 2018, 2022, 2023)

* League Top Scorer
** Tsubasa Sano (2017)
** Shuhei Hoshino (2018)

* League Goal of the Year
** Shotaro Ihata against Balestier Khalsa on 20 March 2015
** Tomoki Menda against Young Lions on 11 August 2016
** Ilhan Fandi against Balestier Khalsa on 16 July 2022

* League Golden Gloves
** Takuma Ito (2012)
** Yōsuke Nozawa (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
** Kei Okawa (2020)
** Takahiro Koga (2021)

* League Team of the Year
** Yōsuke Nozawa (2017, 2018)
** Yasutaka Yanagi (2017)
** Naofumi Tanaka (2017)
** Shuto Inaba (2017)
** Kento Nagasaki (2017)
** Tsubasa Sano (2017)
** Riku Moriyasu (2018)
** Shuhei Sasahara (2018)
** Kenya Takahashi (2018)
** Wataru Murofushi (2018)
** Shuhei Hoshino (2018)
** Kaishu Yamazaki (2019)
** Kyoga Nakamura (2019)
** Kazuki Hashioka (2020, 2021)
** Takahiro Koga (2021)
** Shuya Yamashita (2021)
** Ryoya Tanigushi (2021)
** Masaya Idetsu (2022)
** Kodai Tanaka (2022)
** Ilhan Fandi (2022)
** Koki Kawachi (2023)
** Asahi Yokokawa (2023)
** Seia Kunori (2023)

Records and statistics

As of 8 June 2025.

Top 10 all-time appearances

Top 10 all-time scorers

* Biggest Wins: 13–0 vs Police SA (10 July 2014)
* Heaviest Defeats:
** 7–1 vs Lion City Sailors (23 June 2024)
** 7–1 vs Young Lions (28 March 2025)
* Youngest Goal scorers: Ong Yu En ~ 17 years 1 month 22 days old (On 25 November 2020 ''vs Young Lions'')
* Oldest Goal scorers: Tadanari Lee ~ 37 years 8 months 28 days (''On 16 September 2023'' ''vs Hougang United)''
* Youngest ever debutant: Ong Yu En ~ 17 years 15 days old (''On 18 October 2020 vs Young Lions'')

Notable players

This section contains a list of former players who have either played 100 league games for the club, gone on to represent their nation, or played in the J.League at a professional level.

* Issey Nakajima-Farran (2004–2006)
* Arata Izumi (2005)
* Yoshitaka Komori (2009)
* Akira Takase (2007–2009)
* Taisuke Akiyoshi (2008–2009)
* Ryota Kobayashi (2008–2009)
* Takasuke Goto (2009)
* Shota Matsuoka (2009–2010)
* Atsushi Shimono (2009–2012)
* Bruno Suzuki (2010–2011)
* Shuhei Hotta (2011–2014)
* Toshikazu Soya (2012)
* Masahiro Ishikawa (2013)
* Kento Nagasaki (2013–2017)
* Hikaru Mizuno (2015)
* Atsushi Kawata (2015–2016)
* Yōsuke Nozawa (2015–2018)
* Shunkun Tani (2016)
* Shuto Inaba (2016–2017)
* Hiroyoshi Kamata (2016–2020)
* Takuya Akiyama (2017)
* Tsubasa Sano (2017)
* Yasutaka Yanagi (2017)
* Wataru Murofushi (2018)
* Kenta Kurishima (2020)
* Kosuke Chiku (2021)
* Takahiro Koga (2021–2022)
* Daichi Omori (2022)
* Ilhan Fandi (2022)
* Kodai Tanaka (2022)
* Tadanari Lee (2022–2023)
* Asahi Yokokawa (2023)

Head coaches

Notable coach

* Ichiro Otsuka – Currently the head coach of Mongolia national team frrom 2021 onwards
*Hiroaki Hiraoka – Formerly the head coach of J1 League club, Shimizu S-Pulse
*Koichi Sugiyama – Currently the Assistant Manager of J1 League club, Kyota Sanga from 2021 onwards
* Kazuaki Yoshinaga – Formerly the head coach of Ventforet Kofu and Albirex Niigata

References

External links

Albirex Niigata Singapore website
*

{{Albirex Group

Foreign teams in Singapore football leagues
Expatriated football clubs
Association football clubs established in 2004
Albirex Niigata
2004 establishments in Singapore
Singapore Premier League clubs