Tampines Rovers FC

Tampines Rovers FC
Tampines Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singapore football league system. Founded in 1945. The club have won 5 league titles, 4 Singapore Cups, a record of 5 Community Shields and 1 ASEAN Club Championship.
BG Tampines Rovers is one of the more widely supported football clubs in Singapore, attracting high attendances at both home and away games. Its main rival is Geylang International, with whom they contest in the Eastern Derby.
History
Several football enthusiasts from Tampines decided to form a football club in 1945. After many name changes, they finally decided on "Tampines Rovers" as the official club name. The Stags spent the 1950s and 1960s competing in the Singapore Amateur Football Association League, where they were among the top teams, until they were placed in Division II of the newly formed National Football League in 1974.
1975 was a watershed year for Tampines, as they were promoted to Division I after winning all their league matches and reached the President's Cup final, where they lost 0–1 to the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association in front of a national record crowd of 30,000. They continued to challenge for honours for the next decade, reaching another President's Cup final in 1978, then emerging as national champions in 1979, 1980 and 1984.
The Stags were relegated to the second tier in 1988, but under a new management team, won their league in 1994, and were one of eight clubs selected to compete in the newly formed S.League.
S.League era (1996 – 2017)
However, Tampines did not finish higher than sixth place in the first six seasons of the S.League. In 2002, the Stags secured the services of Malaysian coach, Chow Kwai Lam, who guided them to the Singapore Cup and two fourth-place finishes.
Vorawan Chitavanich reign (2004 – 2010)
The 2000s marked the golden era of the Stags as under the management of Thailand coach, Vorawan Chitavanich which the club amassed a squad filled with stalwarts like Nazri Nasir, Noh Alam Shah, Sead Muratović, Rezal Hassan and countless others. Together, they clinched Tampines Rovers's first S.League titles and the Singapore Cup double in 2004. The following season, they successfully defended their S.League title in 2005, were named the 'S.League Team of the Decade' and became the first Singapore team to win the ASEAN Club Championship. The Stags were the 2006 Singapore Cup champions, but finished runners-up to SAFFC in the 2006 S.League. In 2011, Tampines Rovers appoointed Steven Tan as coach for the 2011 S.League season replacing Vorawan Chitavanich who moved up to become the club technical director.
S.League three-peat (2011 – 2013)
As another star-studded cast with players like Mustafić Fahrudin and Aliff Shafaein, who were part of the 2004 and 2005 winning sides, were joined by the likes of Aleksandar Đurić, Benoît Croissant, and Jamil Ali. The Stags won three-peats consecutive S.League titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013 in which they also went on to win 4 consecutive Singapore Community Shield in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014. Tampines Rovers also went on to win the 2014 Singapore League Cup Plate Winners.
On 19 January 2016, Former Arsenal and Liverpool winger, Jermaine Pennant signed a one-year contract which he took a 70% pay cut from his salary earned at Wigan Athletic. It was reported that he would earn a salary of SGD$40,000 (£19,500) per month, which made him the highest-paid player in the history of the domestic professional football league.
For the 2016 season, with the club signing 9 Lions XII players, Tampines Rovers began with 6 unbeaten matches in the S.League. In February, Tampines Rovers started with the 2016 AFC Cup being drawn in Group E with Ceres from Philippines, Selangor F.A from Malaysia and Sheikh Jamal Dhanmondi from Bangladesh. Tampines Rovers finished second place in Group E which will see them through to the Round of 16 with 10 points leaving Selangor F.A behind with 2 points' difference. The Round of 16 was won with 10 men by Tampines Rovers versus Mohun Bagan from India by a late goal from Afiq Yunos in the after extra time which resulted in 1–2 win at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium. This was also V. Sundramoorthy's last match before taking on the Singapore national team job as care taker. V. Sundramoorthy's successor was his Assistant Coach, Akbar Nawas. He was appointed to be the next head coach of Tampines Rovers followed with 8 straight wins and 28 goals. Tampines Rovers started the 2016 Singapore Cup with a double win playing against Global F.C in the quarterfinals before facing another club from same country, Ceres in the semi-finals which will see the Stags as the finalist of the 2016 Singapore Cup. On 14 September 2016, Tampines Rovers continued their 2016 AFC Cup Quarter-finals facing Bengaluru FC from India but was knocked out on a narrow 1-0 aggregate score on a 2 leg basis. The Stags finished the season as runner-ups in the league with 1 points' difference to Albirex Niigata Singapore.
In view of the financial woes faced by the club during the 2016 season, drastic measures were taken before the start of 2017 season. These would include cut in players and technical staff's salaries, shutting down of fruit machines to name a few. Club chairman, Mr Krishna Ramachandra had decided to make sweeping changes within the club to avoid the same issues happening as last season. The 3 foreign imports from last season, Billy Mehmet, Jordan Webb and Jermaine Pennant had been released from the club with them joining Brunei DPMM, Warriors FC and Bury FC respectively. The club had also ended their 15-year association with their long term sponsor, Hyundai. A significant number of the playing staffs had also left the club as well, notably star player, Hafiz Abu Sujad who left the club for Thai League 2 side, BBCU F.C.
The club had signed a trio of foreign young players to replace the 3 that had departed the end of last season. They would include former Ceres FC utility player, Son Yong Chan, Japanese Teenage winger, Ryutaro Megumi and former Croatia U17 International, Ivan Jakov Džoni. They too did sign a couple of local free agents last season. Notable local signings would include Singapore National Team Defensive Pairing, Madhu Mohana and Daniel Bennett from Warriors FC and Geylang International. The most notable one would be the sudden resignation of coach Akbar Nawas who left the club just 1 month before the start of the season and was replaced by former Garena Young Lions Coach, Jürgen Raab. The Stags started off the 2017 campaign losing the 2017 Singapore Community Shield to Albirex Niigata Singapore.
They took on Global F.C. in the AFC Champions League Play-offs this season but unfortunately lost to them 2–0, which meant that they would be playing in the 2017 AFC Cup this season which they are drawn in Group G with Ceres–Negros from Philippines, Hà Nội from Vietnam and FELDA United from Malaysia but ended up in third place with 2 wins and 4 losses.
Midway through the season, club chairman, Mr Krishna Ramachandra had announced that he would be stepping down as chairman of the club. Citing commitment issues as the reason. He stayed on as club chairman to assist in FAS in the auditing and settling the accounts of the club prior to the date of his official step down (22 August 2017). On 30 August 2017, Mr Desmond Ong had been confirmed by FAS as the new chairman of the club and had also appointed a totally brand new committee for the club moving forward. The Stags finished the season as runner-ups in the league with 8 points' difference to Albirex Niigata Singapore.
Singapore Premier League era (2018 – present)
The 2018 season marked the beginning of the newly revamped Singapore Premier League era. The club started their 2018 season with an AFC Champions League Play-offs against Bali United but lost 3–1 seeing the Stags dropped to the 2018 AFC Cup. To ensure the job security of the players, Tampines Rovers started the initiative to offer longer term contracts to their players. They have 3 models of contracts for their players. The first kind of contract is that the players would be able to get a set increment at the end of every year. Second kind of contract (mainly for the U23 players) is that there would be a year-end review at the end of the season to decide on the amount of increment. The last kind of contract is that their salary would be the same for the duration of the contract. Most of their players are securing a 2-3-year deal with the club.
Despite agreeing to a 3-year deal, the club has allowed midfielder, Shahdan Sulaiman, to go on a season-long loan to Melaka United, in view of long-term benefits for both clubs and the player. Some of the national players in the club had also moved on to play in overseas leagues as well. Thus the club had signed quality replacements to fill in the shoes for the players who had departed the club for other clubs. The club had also retained the services of Japanese midfielder, Ryutaro Megumi for the 2018 season. They had also brought back Canadian winger, Jordan Webb from Warriors FC to fill up the foreign quota of the team. The club has also signed quite a number of young players (mainly from the National U20 Squad and Tampines Rovers Prime League) to fill up the minimum quota of U23 players needed in the team for the new season.
The club has signed a 2-year technical sponsorship deal with Danish Sportswear Company, Hummel in a deal worth S$100,000 per season. They would be providing the club with their Home, Away, Third Jerseys, as well as the training and team wear. They would not be having any main jersey sponsor in this upcoming season as the management had decided that the word "Hormat" (Respect in Malay) would be emblazoned across the chest for the upcoming season. They had debuted their new home jersey during the AFC Champions League Play-off against Bali United. The away and third kit would be revealed in Feb 2018. The club would be facing Johor Darul Ta'zim from Malaysia, Persija Jakarta from Indonesia and Sông Lam Nghệ An from Vietnam in the 2018 AFC Cup after failing to advance from the Asian Champions League 2018 Play-off game. Their first game would be on 10 February 2018 against Sông Lam Nghệ An.
The club has also announced partnership with local private football academy JSSL Singapore. JSSL would look into the development of youth players from Under-6 to Under-14 age categories. The best players from the U6 to U14 categories would than be fast tracked to the stags U16 and U19 teams in the club's Center of Excellence and ultimately the first team. JSSL Singapore's general manager, Gavin Lee has also been assisting Head Coach, Jurgen Raab in the first team matters as Assistant Coach.
Gavin Lee reign (2019 – present)
Tampines Rovers started the 2019 season making a slew of changes to both the team coaching set up and as well as the playing staff this off season. In view of the undesirable results from the previous season, head coach, Jürgen Raab was relieved from his coaching duties. There was an overhaul of the technical team as Khadir Yahaya was roped in as head coach. While last year's assistant coach, Gavin Lee was promoted to first-team coach while he completes his AFC "A" Coaching License while former club captain, Mustafić Fahrudin stayed on with the club after his retirement to be the assistant coach of the team. Former player, Isa Halim was brought in to be the fitness coach, together with goalkeeper coach, William Phang forms the new technical team. The team had also signed a number of young players to the team from the National Football Academy, they had also signed 2 new Serbian U-21 players, Zehrudin Mehmedović and Mirza Delimeđac. At the same time the team had also signed goalkeeper, Zufairuuz Rudy from Hougang United. Shahdan Sulaiman had also returned from his loan stint at Melaka United. As backup goalkeeper, Haikal Hasnol was loaned to Home United due to National Service Commitments. Irfan Fandi had also been loaned to Young Lions due to National Service Commitments as well. Notable players such as Hafiz Abu Sujad, Afiq Yunos and Fazrul Nawaz had moved to Hougang United. At the same time, Fahrudin Mustafić had also retired from the game and is now working as an assistant coach in the team.
In pre-season, the team had taken on NFL Side, Singapore Cricket Club before traveling to Thailand to participate in the LEO Cup playing against Chiangrai United and Chiangrai City. After coming back from Thailand, they took on NFL Side, Katong FC before facing Johor Darul Ta'zim II and Albirex Niigata Singapore. Notably in their final friendly game against Albirex Niigata Singapore, they beat Albirex Niigata Singapore 4-0. In the attendance of a healthy crowd watching the friendly game. It was also announced that Hyundai has returned to be the main sponsor of the club since not partnering with the club from 2017. ANA Courier Express and Gatorade has continued their partnership with the club as well. has also come on board as well. Hummel had also released the club's new jersey and the jersey had been specially designed and made for the club.
Tampines Rovers was drawn in Group F with Hà Nội, Yangon United and Nagaworld. Their first official game of the season would be a trip to Yangon, Myanmar to take on Yangon United in the 2019 AFC Cup. A game in which they came from behind to beat Yangon United 3-1 after trailing at the end of the first half. Thanks to goals from Khairul Amri, Zehrudin Mehmedović and Ryutaro Megumi. The Stags 2019 AFC Cup campaign come to an end when they ended the group stage matches with 13 points together with Hà Nội which will see the Vietnamese club finishing as group leaders with a 18+ goals difference qualifying to the next round.
They would kick start their campaign in the 2019 Singapore Premier League season on 3 March 2019 against Hougang United at the Jalan Besar Stadium. After a streak of impressive wins, the team had a slight dip of form drawing the next 4 games, winning 2 and losing 2. At the same time top striker, Khairul Amri had left to sign for FELDA United in the Malaysia Super League. Tampines Rovers went on to win the 2019 Singapore Cup in the final against Warriors FC.
The 2020 season marked the 75 years since the club's founding. On 14 January 2020, the club kicks off its 2020 campaign against Bali United in an AFC Champions League play off. The game ended in a thrilling 5-3, with Bali United winning the tie with 2 goals in extra-time. This meant that Tampines Rovers would play in the 2020 AFC Cup instead ending up in Group H of the competition with Kaya–Iloilo, PSM Makassar and Shan United. On 22 February 2020, Tampines Rovers won the their record 5th time Singapore Community Shield against Hougang United. The Stags goes on to start the league magnificently, winning 3 out of their 3 opening fixtures without conceding a goal and scoring 7 along the way, putting 4 past recently acquired Lion City Sailors. On the other hand, The 2020 AFC Cup was no different, winning 2 and drawing 1 of their 3 games. However, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the league was halted from 27 March 2020.
The Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth approved the season recommencement on 17 October 2020. Competition rule changes included the provision for two water breaks during a match, and clubs will be able to use up to five substitutions (in defined windows after half-time). In addition only 11 more matches per team were to be played over 49 days. With the season ending on 5 December 2020. Tampines began their return with their first loss of the season to Hougang United. However they recovered with a superb win over favourites, Albirex Niigata Singapore. They went on to finish the season unbeaten in their next 9 games but ultimately finished 2nd, 3 points off Albirex Niigata Singapore at top spot. It was their draws at Geylang International, Balestier Khalsa and Hougang United that cost them. However, they qualified for the 2021 AFC Champions League due to Albirex Niigata's inability to qualify for Continental competitions as they were a satellite team of Albirex Niigata of Japan.
AFC Champions League debut
The 2021 season marked Tampines debut in the 2021 AFC Champions League who were drawn in Group H and take on two-time AFC Champions League winners Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors of Korea Republic, J-League runners up and 2008 AFC Champions League winners Gamba Osaka and Thailand outfits, Chiangrai United.While it was a tough debut for Gavin Lee's charges, veteran defender Daniel Bennett did create a slice of history when he scored their only goal during their fifth group encounter against Gamba Osaka in an 8-1 defeat at the Bunyodkor Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. At 43 years and 181 days, Bennett also eclipsed Dejan Damjanović (39y 341d) as the oldest ever scorer in the tournament's history. The 2021 Singapore Premier League season ended with Tampines Rovers finishing in 4th place which will see them qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup.
Five Years contract extension
Kyoga Nakamura being handed a new five-year lengthy deal by the Stags in an unprecedented move in Singaporean football, making it the longest contract extension in Singaporean league history reaffirming his commitment to the club. The lengthy deal would see Kyoga remaining as a Stag till December 2026 and could also pave the way for another naturalized footballer and also being a Singaporean citizenship. Tampines Rovers also announced a five-year contract for promising star, Shah Shahiran and Joel Chew committing their future to the club.
The Stags started off the 2022 season with in a 2-2 draw against Balestier Khalsa on 26 February 2022. Tampines Rovers started off the 2022 AFC Cup group stage in late June playing at the Kuala Lumpur Stadium as a centralised venue to face Kuala Lumpur City and PSM Makassar however they lost both matches. The 2022 Singapore Cup returns after a 2-years hiatus due to the competition being cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore which saw the Stags having a great run to the Cup Final before losing to 3-2 to Hougang United.
The 2023 season saw star player, Zehrudin Mehmedović leaving the club after staying with the club for 4 years. Tampines Rovers than replace the last foreigner slot bringing in Miloš Zlatković, Lion City Sailors stars, Faris Ramli and Saifullah Akbar also joined the club. Faris started the first 4 league games scoring a goal in each of the consecutive four matches. The Stags see themselves as host of the 2023–24 AFC Cup qualifying ASEAN play-offs zone against Cambodian side, Phnom Penh Crown at the Jalan Besar Stadium on 23 August 2023.
Renamed as BG Tampines Rovers
On 23 September 2023, Tampines Rovers have inked a three-year collaboration with Thailand club, BG Pathum United. As part of the agreement, the Singaporean outfit will be renamed as BG Tampines Rovers from 2024 onwards. Kadir Yahaya who was the former Tampines Rovers head coach and the current head of youth football for BG Pathum, played a pivotal role in securing the deal.
Players
First-team squad
U23
U23
U23
U23
U23
Tampines Rovers U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
U21
On Loan
(NS till 2024)
(NS till 2025, to Young Lions FC)
(NS till 2025, to Young Lions FC)
(NS till 2025, to Young Lions FC)
(to Geylang International)
Club officials
Management
Technical staff
Reference:
Sponsors
Affiliated clubs
BG Pathum United (2023–present)
On 23 September 2023, Tampines Rovers have inked a three-year collaboration with BG Pathum United. As part of the agreement, the Singaporean outfit will be renamed BG Tampines Rovers from 2024. Kadir Yahaya who is the former Tampines Rovers head coach and current head of youth football for BG Pathum, played a pivotal role in securing the deal. It also understands that after the three years, the Thai club will take over operations of Tampines Rovers to help raise the standards of the league. Under the arrangement, Tampines can gain access to BG Pathum's top-notch facilities for pre-season and mid-season preparations, as well as tap on BG Pathum resources related to modern football technology and cutting-edge sports science, as well as marketing, social media and fan engagement. Thai manufacturer, Bangkok Glass or BG will also become the team's shirt-front sponsor.
Crest and colours
The club selected the stag as its animal mascot as the animal is a symbol of wisdom, its antlers are associated with the tree of life and in Chinese culture, it is a symbol of virility. The club's colours are predominantly yellow for its Home kit, with a mixture of black, blue and white for its away colours.
Stadium
The Stags initially played their home games at the Tampines Stadium. In 2011, the stadium was demolished to build an integrated community and lifestyle building Our Tampines Hub (OTH) which includes a football stadium. Never before in Singapore sports history has a football match played within 'Our Tampines Hub', the first-ever integrated community and lifestyle hub that brings together multiple agencies to offer a comprehensive and diverse range of services, programmes and facilities.
During the construction of OTH, the Stags used Clementi Stadium as their homeground from 2012 to 2014 and then Jurong West Stadium from 2015 till the first half of 2017.
In 2017, the Stags moved back to OTH, utilising OTH's Town Square, which has a seating capacity of 5,000, to play their home games. On 28 July 2017, Tampines Rovers had their first match at their newly-opened stadium against Brunei DPMM FC and won 2–0. That match saw a crowd of 4,676 fans.
In 2019, in view of the shared stadium initiative by Football Association Singapore, Geylang International will share OTH as their home ground. It caused a lot of unrest within the local football community, stating that without its spiritual home, the clubs are losing its identity.
Supporters
The Yellow Brigade was the very first unofficial supporters group for Tampines Rovers FC formed in 2012. The bulk of the group were mostly members of the LATW (Lions All The Way) Crew. They were a group of staunch supporters who had come out with a lot of initiatives to improve fans experience in the old Tampines Stadium during match days. They had also came out with their own version of fans' scarf and a lot of off the field initiatives to bring fans, the community and the team closer together.
The Yellow Knights is the second unofficial supporters group for the club, formed in 2019. The group are mostly fans who had been following the club for quite a while. They too, the same as The Yellow Brigade, do want to do their best to improve the fans experience in Our Tampines Hub. At the same time to serve as an informal feedback channel to the club management. They did too bring back some of the initiative in the past like Fans' Player of the Month. They are strong advocate of youth football supporting not just the first team but the youth teams whenever they can. At the same time they do as well recognize ex-stags in every way they possibly can in an attempt to bring the whole stag family together as 1 big family which includes the fans, stakeholders, club management, club technical staff, players and ex-players.
Since the move back to OTH, the average attendance per match is approximately 2000 fans which is the highest in the league.
Honours
Domestic
League
Singapore Premier League
Champions (5): 2004, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013
Runners up (8): 2006, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020
National Football League Division One
Winners (3): 1979, 1980, 1984
Cups
Singapore Cup:
Champions (4): 2002, 2004, 2006, 2019
Runners up (4): 2007, 2010, 2012, 2016,
Singapore Community Shield (record)
Champions (5): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2020
Runners up (2): 2017, 2018
Singapore League Cup:
Plate Winners: 2014
Continental
ASEAN Club Championship: 1
Winners (1): 2005
Records and statistics
As of 2 October 2023.
Top 10 all-time appearances
Top 10 all-time scorers
Biggest Wins: 9-0 vs Police SA (On 19 July 2014)
Heaviest Defeats: 9-0 vs Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (On 1 July 2021)
Youngest Goal scorers: Saifullah Akbar ~ 17 years 5 months 12 days old (On 13 July 2016 vs Hougang United)
Oldest Goal scorers: Aleksandar Đurić ~ 43 years 9 months 11 days old (On 23 May 2014 vs Young Lions)
Youngest ever debutant: Caelen Chong ~ 16 years 7 months 12 days old (On 3 September 2022 vs Balestier Khalsa)
Notable players
List of notable foreign players:
Jordan Webb
Jermaine Pennant
Benoît Croissant
Greg Nwokolo
Billy Mehmet
Akihiro Nakamura
Seiji Kaneko
Choketawee Promrut
Sanrawat Dechmitr
Santi Chaiyaphuak
Sutee Suksomkit
Zehrudin Mehmedović
Former managers
References
External links
Official club website
S.League website page on Tampines Rovers FC
Football clubs in Singapore
Association football clubs established in 1945
Tampines
1945 establishments in Singapore
Singapore Premier League clubs