Sporting Afrique Football Club was a 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 ...

club which played 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 ...

's S.League in 2006. The team was made of players from an African descent. The squad consisted of young players from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. In allowing Sporting Afrique to join the league, the S.League hoped that their involvement would make the competition more exciting, and possibly unearth some good players who might be able to change their nationality to Singaporean and thus play for the

Singapore national football team The Singapore national football team represents Singapore in the senior men's international football. It is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body of football in Singapore, which is affiliated with the Asi ...

in the future.

History

Sporting Afrique started off their debut 2006 S.League season in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

in their first home match at the sold-out crowd,

Yishun Stadium Yishun Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Yishun, Singapore, within the vicinity of Khatib MRT station. The stadium has a capacity of 3,400. History * 1996 to 2003: Home to the Sembawang Rangers FC, Sembawang Rangers. * 2006 S.League Season: ...

. The stadium was packed of African continent supporters. The club finished in 9th place out of 11 teams in the S.League in the first and last season.

Controversies

Sporting Afrique were involved in a number of off-field controversies, and their application to participate in the S.League again in 2007 was rejected by the FAS. The club played its home games at the

. In June 2006, it was reported that, while the players had been promised monthly salaries of S$1,600 (~US$1,000), they only received S$100 a month (~US$60), as S$700 was deducted for food (reportedly a monotonous diet of rice and chicken), and S$800 for accommodation despite all 22 team members living 5 or 6 per room in the same house in an area where a typical house rental was around S$3,000. They barely can go anywhere other than the stadium as they find travel is too expensive and their contracts also forbade talking to the media, but team members contacted the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

anonymously, drawing international attention. Club president Collin Chee, who had initially claimed to be "not short-changing any of them", eventually backed down and agreed to raise their salaries to S$600, with performance bonuses and better housing. It was revealed that one of the players, Jacques Ngo’o turned down a bribe of more than $5,000 ahead of an S-League match. Despite the attempted bribe which amounted to several times the player monthly salary, the player's decision to displayed the honesty and integrity still show the good hearted among the African player's.Thomas Biketi’s Sporting Afrique set to disband

Seasons

Notable players

All the players that leave the club following the club dissolvement

* Kaze Teffo Etienne (He played for Singapore club, Balestier Khalsa in 2007 and then play in USA and Hungary) * Jacques Ngo'o (Played his career in Indonesia from 2008 to 2015) * Christian Priso (Retired) * Frederick Addai (Retired) * Musah Ibrahim (Retired) * Thomas Biketi (Played his career in Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Nepal) *

Harrison Muranda Harrison Eric Muranda (born 20 January 1982) is a Kenyan professional footballer who last played as a forward for Sidama Coffee S.C. in the Ethiopian Premier League. He is currently the trainer at Kenyan Premier League side KCB F.C. Career E ...

(Played his career in Maldives, Malaysia, Vietnam, India and Ethiopia) * Nicholas Muyoti (Played his career in India from 2006 to 2008) * Christopher Wekesa (Played his career in his native country) *

Udo Fortune Udo Fortune (born 2 February 1988) is a Nigerian former footballer who plays as a striker. Career Born in Warri, Fortune has played for Becamex Bình Dương, Hapoel Nir Ramat HaSharon, Bali United, Persik Kediri, Mosta and Đồng Tháp. Ho ...

(He played for Singapore club, Balestier Khalsa in 2007 then play in Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Israel and Malta) * Lucky Diokpara (Played for Indonesia club, Persisko Merangin in 2013) * Lukmon Anifaloyin (Played his career in Australia from 2008 to 2016) * Peter Lipede (Played his career in Indonesia from 2007 to 2014) * Sergio Yaale (Played for Indonesia club,

Persik Kediri Persatuan sepak bola Indonesia Kediri ( ''Indonesian football association of Kediri''; abbreviated Persik Kediri) (), is an Indonesian professional football club based in Kediri, East Java, Indonesia. They currently compete in the Liga 1. Th ...

in 2007) * Obot Udoaka (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Admiralty FC Admiralty Football Club, also commonly known as Admiralty FC, is a association football, football club which plays in the Division 2 of the Singapore Football League, the third tier of football in Singapore. The club is currently participating ...

in 2007) * Julius Ejueyitsi (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the

in 2007 then play in Malaysia and Myanmar) * Michael Onyia (He joined Singapore semi-professional club in the

, Eunos Crescent in 2007 then play in Bangladesh) * Segun Adebayo (Retired) * Agofure Churchill (Retired) * Kehinde Hussani Badmus (Retired) * Ferdinand Nnodim (Retired) * Ifesinachi Nwaigwe (Retired) * Nwankwo Ogochukwu (Retired) * Udorji Nzekwesi (Retired) * Samuel Umoh (Retired) * Udo Fidelis Chika

Coach

R. Balasubramaniam R. Balasubramaniam was an Indian actor whose career spanned from the late 1930s through late 1950s. He was well known for his role in mythological films and later switched to character roles. Filmography References

Male actors in Tamil ...

(2006 – 2007)

References

{{S-League Foreign teams in Singapore football leagues Association football clubs established in 2006 Singapore Premier League clubs