Lion City Cup Explained

Region: Singapore
Number Of Teams:4-6 (different years)
Current Champions:BG Pathum United F.C. U-15
Organiser:Football Association of Singapore

The Lion City Cup is a youth football tournament for boys. It was founded in 1977 by the late former Football Association of Singapore chairman, Nadesan Ganesan who organized the only Under-16 football tournament in the world, following FIFA's then secretary-general, Sepp Blatter's recommendation after he was in Singapore for the 1982 Lion City Cup, the Cup has been credited with inspiring the creation of the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship hosted in China at FIFA's request.[1] [2]

History

The Lion City Cup was first introduced in 1977, and the tournament was aimed at nurturing and developing youth footballing talents in Singapore. When the tournament was first started in 1977, it first featured youth teams from Malaysian state representative sides, given that there was keen interest in the Malaysia League and Cup competitions then. That year, a young Fandi Ahmad who was the captain, helped Singapore emerge as champions after thrashing Pahang 5-0, in the finals played on 18 December 1977 at the old National Stadium. While the tournament was a regular annual affair from 1977 to 1982, the competition was discontinued from 1983 to 1989 because in 1982, the momentum of the event attracted the interest of FIFA, paving the way for the first FIFA U-16 World Cup in 1985. As a consequence, it became impracticable to hold the Lion City Cup with the same international calibre of invitees, and the competition was not held again until 1990 when it was revived in its original form and was an annual affair from that year until 2001, and then it went on a hiatus again for two years.

In 2004, it came back to life for three years and then was not held in 2007.

In 2008, Thailand U-17 beat the UAE U-17 in the final and the event was scrapped for another two years.

Then another 3 continuous years of competitions from 2011 to 2013, before being abolished in 2014 due to lack of sponsors.

The event returned in 2015 only to be discontinued for the next seven years.

The Lion City Cup returned for the 27th edition in 2023 after a seven-year hiatus. The 2023 edition was held on the 1st and 3rd September 2023, and featured regional sides Selangor (Malaysia), BG Pathum United (Thailand), Borneo Samarinda (Indonesia). Singapore’s representative was the National Development Centre (NDC) Under-15 team. This marked the first time that BG Pathum and Borneo F.C. participated in the tournament.[3]

Winners

Edition! rowspan="2"
YearFinalThird place gameNum. teams
ChampionsScoreRunners-upThird place Score Fourth place
1st1977 Singapore U-16 5–0 Pahang U-16 Kelantan U-16 2–0 Penang U-168
2nd1978 a Singapore 'A'3–0 Selangor U-16 Singapore 'B'2–1 Singapore 'C'12
3rd1979 b3–1 Australia U-16 Thailand U-16 4–1 Singapore 'A'14
4th1980 Bahrain U-161–0 Saudi Arabia U-16 South Korea U-16 2–0 Thailand U-16 12
5th1981 South Korea U-16 2–1 Bahrain U-16 Thailand U-16 3–1 Japan U-1611
6th1982 Thailand U-16 1–0 Saudi Arabia U-16 Japan U-161–0 Qatar U-169
Competition not held from 1983 to 1989
7th1990 Singapore U-157–1 Terengganu U-16 Kuala Lumpur U-16 1–1 Perak U-16 6
8th1991 Myanmar U-16 2–0 Singapore U-16 Hong Kong U-16 2–1 Selangor U-16 8
9th1992 Indonesia U-16 0–0 (a.e.t.)(5–4 p) Kuala Lumpur U-16 Singapore U-16 1–0 Melaka U-16 8
10th1993 Indonesia U-16 4–1 Western Australia Pahang U-16 5–2 Kuala Lumpur U-16 8
11th1994 Perth Kangaroos3–2 Kuala Lumpur U-16 Hong Kong U-16 2–1 Pahang U-16 8
12th1995 Singapore 'A'1–0 Hong Kong U-16 Perth Kangaroos3–1 AIK Stockholm U-16 8
13th1996 South Korea U-16 4–0 AIK Stockholm U-16 Perth Glory c2–0 Singapore U-16 8
14th1997 AIK Stockholm U-16 3–2 Perth Glory U-16 Hong Kong U-16 0–0 (a.e.t.)(5–4 p) Singapore 'A'8
15th1998 India U-16 3–1 Perth Glory U-16 Singapore 'A'6–5 Pahang U-16 8
16th1999 India U-16 2–0 Perth Glory U-16 Singapore 'B'1–2 Cambodia U-16 8
17th2000 Olympia Athletic3–0 Perth Glory U-16 Singapore U-16 2–1 Beijing Guoan U-166
18th2001 Lyngby BK6–0 St Stephen's Wakayama U-165–4 Singapore U-16 4
Competition not held from 2002 to 2003
19th2004 Singapore U-17 4–0 Hong Kong U-17 Malaysia U-17 and Perth Glory U-175
20th2005 Malaysia U-182–2(a.e.t.)(4–2 p) Singapore U-18 AIK Stockholm U-182–2(a.e.t.)(4–3 p) Football West10
21st2006 Singapore U-18 0–0(a.e.t.)(7–6 p) Hong Kong U-18 Third place match not held7
Competition not held in 2007
22nd2008 Thailand U-171–1(a.e.t.)(4–3 p) UAE U-17 Australia U-16 3–1 Uzbekistan U-178
Competition not held from 2009 to 2010
23rd2011 Flamengo U-150–0(a.e.t.)(4–3 p) Singapore U-16 Singapore U-154–0 Singapore U-156
24th2012 Ajax U-16 4–1 Singapore U-16 Manchester City U-16 1–3 Vasco Da Gama U-166
25th2013 Corinthians U-151–1(a.e.t.)(5–3 p) PSV U-15 Eintracht Frankfurt U-15 3–2 Arsenal U-16 6
26th2015 Tottenham Hotspurs U-154–0 Liverpool U-15 Singapore U-16 3–2 Singapore U-154
Competition not held from 2015 to 2022
27th2023 BG Pathum United U-15e1–1(a.e.t.)(4–3 p) Singapore NDC U-15 d Selangor U-152–1 Borneo Samarinda U-15 4

Notes

Notable overseas players

List of footballers that went on to play in Europe's top five leagues or represent their country at the FIFA World Cup

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Looking back at 100 Years of Singapore soccer . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110824171117/http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/dream/life/ref/100.html . 2011-08-24 . AsiaOne.
  2. News: Dorai . Joe . 11 December 1985 . Youth Cup revived . . 36.
  3. News: Tianbao . Lin . 2023-08-09 . Lion City Cup returns, U-15 team to feature . en . The Straits Times . 2023-09-04 . 0585-3923.
  4. Web site: Lion City Cup . 2023-09-03 . www.rsssf.org.

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