# Singapore League Cup

The Singapore League Cup was an annual association football competition in Singapore. It was launched in 2007 and was open to teams who competed in the S.League. Albirex Niigata (S), a satellite club of Albirex Niigata of the J League, has won the most titles in history.

## History

The inaugural competition of 2007 was sponsored by SingTel, and officially titled theSingTel League Cup. Eight of the twelve S.League teams took part in the 2007 tournament, which was held before the start of the S.League season proper.
In 2008, the competition's official sponsored name was the Avaya-J&J League Cup (with sponsorship coming from Avaya and Jebsen & Jessen Communications). All twelve S.League teams took part in the 2008 tournament. Unlike the 2007 event, the 2008 competition was held during the S.League season.
The 2009 edition of the League Cup was held from 1 to 19 June, again during the S.League season. The competition began with a group stage, where the clubs were divided into four groups of three. The top two teams from each group qualified for the knockout stage. All knockout matches were played at the Jalan Besar Stadium. Live television coverage was provided by Starhub.
2010 saw the League Cup returning to a knockout format. The teams which finished in the top 4 positions in the 2009 S.League season were given byes to the quarter-final round, and the remaining clubs played a qualifying round to decide who would join them in the Cup competition. The draw was conducted before the qualifying round, which meant that qualifying clubs already knew which quarter-final slot they would be playing for.
The 2011 League Cup final on 30 June 2011 saw Albirex Niigata (S) defeat Hougang United FC 5-4 on penalties to become the third consecutive foreign club to hold the trophy after DPMM FC and Étoile FC.
The 2012 tournament was sponsored by StarHub, and officially titled the StarHub League Cup. The 2015 edition was sponsored by The New Paper and known as The New Paper League Cup.
The title sponsor for 2016 was The New Paper. In 2018, The Singapore League Cup was abolished to ease fixture congestion.

## Previous League Cup tournament (1997)

A competition called the Singapore League Cup was also held in Singapore in 1997. In that year it was won by the Singapore Armed Forces who defeated Geylang United 1-0 in the final. In 1998, that competition was renamed the Singapore Cup, and was opened to teams that do not play in the S.League. The Singapore Cup is now the major cup competition in Singapore football, and in recent years has involved invited teams from overseas in addition to teams playing in Singapore's local leagues.
| Year | Winners | Runners-up | Score in Final | 3rd place | 4th place |
| 1997 | Singapore Armed Forces | Geylang United | 1-0 | Tampines Rovers Tiong Bahru United | No 3rd-place play-off |

## Past results

| Year | Winners | Runners-up | Score in Final | 3rd place | 4th place |
| 2007 | Woodlands Wellington | Sengkang Punggol | 4-0 | Gombak United | Home United |
| 2008 | Gombak United | Super Reds | 2-1 | Balestier Khalsa | Young Lions |
| 2009 | DPMM (Brunei) | Singapore Armed Forces | 1-1 (aet) 4-3 (pen) | Home United | Woodlands Wellington |
| 2010 | Étoile | Woodlands Wellington | 3-1 | Sengkang Punggol | Gombak United |
| 2011 | Albirex Niigata (S) | Hougang United | 0-0 (aet) 5-4 (pen) | Tampines Rovers | Home United |
| 2012 | DPMM (Brunei) | Geylang United | 2-0 | Singapore Armed Forces Tampines Rovers | No 3rd-place play-off |
| 2013 | Balestier Khalsa | DPMM (Brunei) | 4-0 | Albirex Niigata (S) Woodlands Wellington | No 3rd-place play-off |
| 2014 | DPMM (Brunei) | Tanjong Pagar United | 2-0 | Hougang United Geylang International | No 3rd-place play-off |
| 2015 | Albirex Niigata (S) | Balestier Khalsa | 2-1 | Hougang United Geylang International | No 3rd-place play-off |
| 2016 | Albirex Niigata (S) | DPMM (Brunei) | 2-0 | Home United Tampines Rovers | No 3rd-place play-off |
| 2017 | Albirex Niigata (S) | Warriors FC | 1-0 (aet) | DPMM (Brunei) Geylang International | No 3rd-place play-off |

### Plate Tournament

From 2012, a Plate Tournament was launched for the four teams that finished third in their respective groups.
| Year | Winners | Runners-up | Score in Final |
| 2012 | Balestier Khalsa | Young Lions | 1–0 |
| 2013 | Harimau Muda B | Young Lions | 2–0 |
| 2014 | Tampines Rovers | Balestier Khalsa | 3–0 |
| 2015 | Not held | Not held | Not held |
| 2016 | Geylang International | Hougang United | 2–1 |
| 2017 | Not held | Not held | Not held |

### Performance by Clubs

| Club | Winners | Runners-up | Plate Winners | Winning years |
| Albirex Niigata (S) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017 |
| DPMM | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2009, 2012, 2014 |
| Balestier Khalsa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2013 |
| Woodlands Wellington | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2007 |
| Gombak United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2008 |
| Étoile | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2010 |
| Warriors FC | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Hougang United | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Geylang International | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Super Reds | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Tanjong Pagar United | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Harimau Muda B | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Tampines Rovers | 0 | 0 | 1 | |

## Sponsorship

| Period | Sponsor | Name |
| 2007 | Singtel | SingTel League Cup |
| 2008 | Avaya and Jebsen & Jessen Communications | Avaya-J&J League Cup |
| 2009–2011 | No main sponsor | Singapore League Cup |
| 2012–2014 | StarHub | StarHub League Cup |
| 2015–2017 | The New Paper | The New Paper League Cup |