SINGAPORE, 12 MAY 2025 – The Lion City Sailors are one win away from securing the 2024/25 Singapore Premier League title – this after nearest challengers BG Tampines Rovers suffered a shock defeat to Balestier Khalsa. Meanwhile Tanjong Pagar United are all but consigned to finishing bottom after a draw with Young Lions. Following the weekend, The Lion City Sailors sealed the 2024/25 Singapore Premier League title with two games to spare, as their narrow win over Tanjong Pagar United rendered BG Tampines Rovers’ victory over Young Lions immaterial. Meanwhile Albirex Niigata (S) and Brunei DPMM kept their hopes of finishing in the top four alive with victories over Geylang International and Balestier Khalsa respectively. We recap all the action here…
Spoils shared
Tanjong Pagar 1-1 Young Lions | Jurong East | 7 May
Salif Cissé 45+2’ | Raihan Rahman O.G. 83
Cissé fired home a sizzling free-kick in off the bar to give Tanjong Pagar the lead, but they were eventually pegged back when Danish Haqimi’s cross forced Raihan Rahman to clear into his own net.
Facts
- Tanjong Pagar are now winless in their last seven league matches.
- Young Lions are set to avoid a bottom-placed finish for the first time since 2020.
Tanjong Pagar: Matthew Silva (GK), Shahrin Saberin (C) (Thorsten Takashi Cross 42’), Timur Talipov, Faizal Roslan, Zenivio Mota, Azim Akbar (Sahil Suhaimi 59’), Raihan Rahman, Marcus Mosses (Rezza Rezky 46’), Tomoki Wada (Fathullah Rahmat 78’), Salif Cissé, Izrafil Yusof (Syahadat Masnawi 42’).
Unused subs: Riki Kimura (GK), Naufal Ilham, Umar Akhbar, Hariysh Krishnakumar.
Young Lions: Rauf Erwan (GK), Danial Crichton (Ryan Vishal 46’), Jun Kobayashi, Ikram Mikhail, Syafi Nur Hilman (Danish Haqimi 70’), Kan Kobayashi (C), Kaisei Ogawa, Andrew Aw, Ethan Pinto (Nyqil Iyyan 90’+5), Ryu Hardy (Bill Mamadou 70’), Rasul Ramli.
Unused subs: Firman Nabil (GK), Wong Ngang Haang, Izz Anaqi, Ikmal Hazlan.
Stags see title hopes fade
BG Tampines 0-1 Balestier | Jalan Besar | 7 May
Kodai Tanaka 11′
Tanaka opened the scoring early on through a fine header off Masahiro Sugita’s cross, before the Tigers held on bravely despite Sugita’s second-half red card to sink BG Tampines’ fading title hopes.
Facts
- Balestier are the only teams along with the Lion City Sailors that have kept a clean sheet against BG Tampines in the league this season.
- Balestier are unbeaten in their last five games in all competitions, including a three-match winning streak in the SPL.
- Balestier kept back-to-back SPL clean sheets for the first time since April 2021.
BG Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK) (C), Amirul Adli (Arya Igami Tarhani 76’), Shuya Yamashita, Dylan Fox, Miloš Zlatković, Shah Shahiran, Kyoga Nakamura. Glenn Kweh (Joel Chew 46’), Faris Ramli (Yasir Hanapi 90’), Itsuki Enomoto, Seia Kunori.
Unused subs: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Ong Yu En, Amirul Haikal, Irfan Najeeb, Kegan Phang.
Balestier: Hafiz Ahmad (GK), Fudhil I’yadh (Abdil Qaiyyim 90’), Madhu Mohana, Cher Garang, Harith Kanadi, Alen Kozar (C), Darren Teh (Ignatius Ang 84’), Riku Fukashiro, Masahiro Sugita, Anton Fase, Kodai Tanaka.
Unused subs: Martyn Mun (GK), Emmeric Ong, Elijah Lim, Amiruldin Asraf, Syukri Noorhaizam, N Sakthivelchezhian, Tariq Shahid.
Red Card – Masahiro Sugita (Balestier) 58’
Stags win in vain
BG Tampines 2-0 Young Lions | Jalan Besar |10 May
Itsuki Enomoto 10′, Kyoga Nakamura 60’
Itsuki Enomoto’s early strike from outside the box was matched by an equally impressive long-range drive by Kyoga Nakamura, as the two quality strikes sunk the Young Lions.
Facts
- BG Tampines will finish the season in second place – their highest league position since a runners-up finish in 2020.
- BG Tampines’ Syazwan Buhari kept his 10th clean sheet of the season – a league-leading statistic.
- Nakamura scored his first SPL goal since October 2024.
BG Tampines: Syazwan Buhari (GK) (C), Irfan Najeeb (Amirul Adli 46’), Shuya Yamashita, Dylan Fox, Miloš Zlatković, Shah Shahiran, Kyoga Nakamura (Amirul Haikal 88’), Glenn Kweh (Glenn Kweh 77’), Joel Chew (Arya Igami Tarhani 70’), Itsuki Enomoto (Taufik Suparno 70’), Seia Kunori.
Unused subs: Ridhuan Barudin (GK), Ong Yu En, Faris Ramli, Kegan Phang.
Young Lions: Firman Nabil GK), Aqil Yazid, Bill Mamadou, Ikram Mikhail (Ryu Hardy 46’), Syafi Nur Hilman (Danish Haqimi 37’), Jun Kobayashi, Kaisei Ogawa (C), Lim Zheng Wu (Ryan Vishal 87’), Ethan Pinto (Nybil Iyyan 87’), Andrew Aw, Rasul Ramli (Amir Syafiz 55’).
Unused subs: Rauf Erwan (GK), Wong Ngang Haang, Izz Anaqi, Danial Crichton.
Sailors seal the deal
Tanjong Pagar 0-1 Sailors | Jurong East | 10 May
Maxime Lestienne pen. 21′
Maxime Lestienne’s first-half penalty conversion proved to be the difference between both sides as the Sailors celebrated their first SPL title since 2021.
Facts
- Sailors’ Izwan Mahbud kept his ninth shutout in the SPL this season – just one behind BG Tampines’ Syazwan Buhari.
- Tanjong Pagar are consigned to finishing bottom for the first time since 2020.
Tanjong Pagar: Matthew Silva (GK) (C), Syed Akmal, Timur Talipov, Faizal Roslan (Sahil Suhaimi 83’), Azim Akbar, Raihan Rahman, Rezza Rezky (Thorsten Takashi Cross 74’), Fathullah Rahmat (Zenivio Mota 74’), Marcus Mosses, Tomoki Wada, Syahadat Masnawi (Salif Cissé 58’).
Unused subs: Riki Kimura (GK), Farid Jafiri, Naufal Ilham, Suhairi Sabri, Izrafil Yusof.
Sailors: Izwan Mahbud (GK), Akram Azman (Song Uiyoung 51’), Lionel Tan, Bailey Wright (C), Toni Datković, Diogo Costa, Maxime Lestienne, Rui Pires (Christopher van Huizen 90’+1), Hami Syahin (Hariss Harun 90’+1), Shawal Anuar, Lennart Thy (Abdul Rasaq Akeem 74’).
Unused subs: Zharfan Rohaizad (GK), Anumanthan Kumar, Hafiz Nor, Zulqarnaen Suzliman, Haiqal Pashia.
DPMM’s late-season surge continues
Balestier 3-4 DPMM | Jalan Besar | 11 May
Kodai Tanaka 34′, Madhu Mohana 42′, Anton Fase 45’+3 | Dāvis Ikaunieks 31′, pen. 64′, pen. 81′, Azwan Ali Rahman 68’
Davis Ikaunieks’s close-range opener was quickly snuffed out as Harith Kanadi teed up Kodai Tanaka and Madhu Mohana for fine headed goals, before Anton Fase applied the finishing touch to Riku Fukashiro’s low cross to put Balestier 3-1 up at the break. However, DPMM rallied with Ikaunieks converting a pair of penalties – sandwiching Azwan Ali’s rocket which went in off the bar – to complete a stunning comeback.
Facts
- DPMM are unbeaten in their last seven SPL outings, including four straight wins.
- Ikaunieks has scored nine goals in his last four appearances – bringing his DPMM tally to 16 goals in as many games in all competitions since joining in the January transfer window.
Balestier: Hafiz Ahmad (GK), Darren Teh, Madhu Mohana (C) Cher Garang, Harith Kanadi, Alen Kozar (C), Jared Gallagher, Riku Fukashiro, Masahiro Sugita, Anton Fase, Kodai Tanaka.
Unused subs: Martyn Mun (GK), Emmeric Ong, Elijah Lim, Amiruldin Asraf, Fudhil I’yadh, Syukri Noorhaizam, N Sakthivelchezhian, Ignatius Ang, Abdil Qaiyyim.
DPMM: Haimie Nyaring (GK), Nurikhwan Othman (Hanif Hamir 83’), Yura Indera Putera (Syafiq Safiuddin 46’), Damir Muminović, Najib Tarif, Abdul Hariz Herman (Hanif Farhan 55’), Farshad Noor (Nazirrudin Ismail 46’), Miguel Oliveira, Azwan Ali Rahman (C), Gabriel Gama (Hariz Danial Khallidden 90’), Dāvis Ikaunieks.
Unused subs: Ishyra Amin (GK), Azwan Saleh, Faturrahman Embran, Nazry Aiman.
White Swans regain winning feeling
Geylang 1-4 Albirex | Our Tampines Hub | 11 May
Iqbal Hussain 48′ | Shingo Nakano 15′, 80′, Yohei Otake 76′, Amy Recha 86′
Shingo Nakano’s brilliant volley was cancelled out by Iqbal Hussain’s tap-in early in the second half, but Geylang International’s resistance broke after Keito Hariya’s sending off. Yohei Otake curled home a stunning free-kick before teeing up Nakano to net a clinical second. Super-sub Amy then lashed in at the near post to seal the three points for the visitors.
Facts
- This was Albirex’s first win in eight matches in all competitions.
- This was Albirex’s first win over Geylang since August 2023.
- Geylang will finish the season in third place – their highest league position since a runners-up finish in 2003.
Geylang: Rudy Khairullah (GK), Joshua Pereira (C), Rio Sakuma, Keito Hariya, Akmal Azman (Ahmad Syahir 68’), Huzaifah Aziz (Saifullah Akbar 29’), Takahiro Tezuka, Vincent Bezecourt, Ryoya Taniguchi, Zikos Chua (Iqbal Hussain 29’, Tomoyuki Doi.
Unused subs: Hairul Syirhan (GK), Naufal Azman, Faisal Shahril, Nizwan Izzairie, Raiyan Noor, Prince Rio Rifae’i.
Albirex:Hassan Sunny (GK), Syed Firdaus Hassan (C) (Hilman Norhisam 89’), Koki Kawachi, Stevia Egbus Mikuni, Junki Yoshimura (Daniel Martens 89’), Naoki Yoshioka, Yohei Otake, Haziq Kamarudin (Syahrul Sazali 70’), Shuhei Hoshino, Arshad Shamim (Amy Recha 83’), Shingo Nakano (Syukri Bashir 89’).
Unused subs:Dylan Pereira (GK), Zainol Gulam (GK), Daniel Goh, Sim Jun Yen.
Red Card – Keito Hariya (Geylang) 75’
