Warriors F.C.

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Full name	Warriors Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Warriors
Founded	1975
Ground	Choa Chu Kang Stadium Choa Chu Kang, Singapore (capacity: 4,600)
Chairman	Lam Shiu Tong
Head Coach	V.Selvaraj
League	S.League
2012	7th
Home colours Away colours

The Warriors Football Club (Warriors F.C.) is a professional football club that plays in the top-tier S.League. Before they officially changed their name on 20th January 2013^[1], they were previously known as the Singapore Armed Forces Football Club (SAFFC) since their establishment on 16 February 1996. Despite their name back then, membership of the Armed Forces was not a prerequisite for representing the team, and several international players have played for them.

Using a rhino as club mascot was their second suggestion after the S.League rejected their initial proposal of having a warrior as being out of line with the policy of clubs having animal mascots.^[2]

Warriors F.C. is currently the most successful club in the history of the S.League, having won the title a record eight times: in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009^[3] and finishing second in 4 seasons: 1996, 1999, 2001, 2005. In the 15 years since the inception of the S.League, SAFFC have only finished outside the top two in 2003, 2004 and 2010.^[4]

The Warriors was based in Jurong Stadium till 2000 before moving to their current home ground Choa Chu Kang Stadium in 2001.

History [link]

1975 - 1996: SAFSA [link]

The club has its roots in the Singapore Armed Forces Sports Association (SAFSA) football team formed in 1975 to provide talented footballers serving National Service with opportunities to play competitive football. That year, they won the President's Cup, a feat they repeated in 1978, when they also captured the National Football League title to complete The Double. Their Under-19 team won the national Under-19 title in 1979, 1980 and 1983, while the 1981 season of the National Football League saw the SAFSA football team emerge as champions without losing a game. The President's Cup was captured again in 1984 and 1986, the latter time as part of a second Double, as they also won the National Football League on goal difference. In 1990, the Pools Cup went to the SAFSA football team and their convincing displays led to their selection as one of eight clubs to compete in the newly-formed S.League.^[5]

The Warriors' entry into the S.League in 1996 also resulted in the withdrawal of SAFSA from the NFL. SAFSA would not participate in the local football leagues again till 1999, when they rejoined the National Football League.

1996 - 1999: Early S.League [link]

SAFFC continued their domination of the league where SAFSA left off, finishing second in 1996, 1999 and winning it in 1997 and 1998.

2000 - 2003: Fandi Ahmad [link]

Former Singapore international Fandi Ahmad took over from Mladen Pralija in 1999.

2003 - 2005: Instability [link]

Three coaches were at the reins during this period, each lasting only one season. SAFFC finished second in 2005 but otherwise outside the top two.

2006 - Present: Richard Bok [link]

Richard Bok took over as club head coach in 2006 & led the Warriors to 4 consecutive championship 2006, 2007, 2008 & 2009.

In 2008, SAFFC became the first Singapore club to achieve the "double" back-to-back, after winning both the S.League and the Singapore Cup in 2007 and 2008.

In Asian Football Confederation Club competition, he led SAFFC to 2 Quarter Finals in 2007 & 2008. In 2009, SAFFC qualified into the AFC Champions League group stage by defeating Thai Champion PEA FC and PSMS Medan of Indonesia in the East playoff thus SAFFC making Singapore football history by being the first club from Singapore to qualified for the highest club competition in Asia.

Squad 2010

SAFFC were drawn in a group with J.League champions Kashima Antlers, K.League champions Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Chinese Super League runners-up Shanghai Shenhua, and despite being confirmed as the group losers after a 5–0 loss to Kashima Antlers in Japan, they managed to win their first ever point in the competition with a 1–1 draw against Shanghai Shenhua at home.

In 2010, SAFFC qualified for their second consecutive AFC Champions League group stage by defeating Sriwijaya of Indonesia 3-0 at Jalan Besar stadium in Singapore and won on penalty in the East playoff Final with Muang Thong Utd FC of Thailand in Singapore. SAFFC were group with former Champion Gamba Osaka of Japan, Henan Jianye of China and again Suwon Samsung Bluewings of Korea. SAFFC got their first ever away points with a draw against Chinese Super League side Henan Jianye in Henan, China. Thus equalling their 1 point in 2009. In the return leg on 13 April 2010 at Jalan Besar stadium in Singapore, SAFFC record their first ever historical AFC Champions League win with a 2-1 victory over Henan Jianye. Eventually finishing 3rd in the group ahead of Chinese Super League team Henan Jianye putting SAFFC and Singapore football on the map in Asia Football.

Name Change to Warriors F.C. [link]

On 20th January 2013, SAFFC announced that they had changed their name to Warriors Football Club ahead of the 2013 S.League season.^[6]

Players [link]

Current Squad [link]

As of 8 January 2012

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Hassan Sunny 2 DF Syaiful Iskandar 3 DF Zulfadli Zainal Abidin 4 Error creating thumbnail: convert.im6: unable to open image `/var/sites/mediawiki-1.19.1/images/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: delegate failed `"rsvg-convert" -o "%o" "%i"' @ error/delegate.c/InvokeDelegate/1065. convert.im6: unable to open image `/tmp/magick-GcKeRUcM': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: unable to load module `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ImageMagick-6.7.7/modules-Q16/coders/svg.la': file not found @ error/module.c/OpenModule/1278. convert.im6: unable to open file `/tmp/magick-GcKeRUcM': No such file or directory @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/583. convert.im6: no images defined `PNG:/tmp/transform_5754d7-1.png' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3044. MF Kazuyuki Toda 5 DF Abdil Qaiyyim 7 Error creating thumbnail: convert.im6: unable to open image `/var/sites/mediawiki-1.19.1/images/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: delegate failed `"rsvg-convert" -o "%o" "%i"' @ error/delegate.c/InvokeDelegate/1065. convert.im6: unable to open image `/tmp/magick-GdOm0moR': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: unable to load module `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ImageMagick-6.7.7/modules-Q16/coders/svg.la': file not found @ error/module.c/OpenModule/1278. convert.im6: unable to open file `/tmp/magick-GdOm0moR': No such file or directory @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/583. convert.im6: no images defined `PNG:/tmp/transform_ecd32f-1.png' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3044. MF Tatsuro Inui 8 Error creating thumbnail: convert.im6: unable to open image `/var/sites/mediawiki-1.19.1/images/9/9e/Flag_of_Japan.svg': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: delegate failed `"rsvg-convert" -o "%o" "%i"' @ error/delegate.c/InvokeDelegate/1065. convert.im6: unable to open image `/tmp/magick-Sl89uq6S': No such file or directory @ error/blob.c/OpenBlob/2638. convert.im6: unable to load module `/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/ImageMagick-6.7.7/modules-Q16/coders/svg.la': file not found @ error/module.c/OpenModule/1278. convert.im6: unable to open file `/tmp/magick-Sl89uq6S': No such file or directory @ error/constitute.c/ReadImage/583. convert.im6: no images defined `PNG:/tmp/transform_3717368-1.png' @ error/convert.c/ConvertImageCommand/3044. MF Shimpei Sakurada 9 FW Mislav Karoglan 10 FW Sufian Anuar 11 DF Marin Vidošević

No. Position Player 12 MF Ruzaini Zainal 13 FW Erwan Gunawan 14 DF Matthew Abraham 15 MF Shukor Zailan 16 DF Daniel Bennett (captain) 17 MF Prakash Manikam 18 GK Hyrulnizam Juma'at 19 FW Hafsyar Farkhan 20 MF Shi Jiayi

Prime League Players [link]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 21 MF Dharham Aziz DF Eddie Chang 23 MF Junaidy Salleh 24 DF Bharath Ravindren 25 GK Zainol Gulam 26 MF Baby Josy 27 MF Faris Haziq Roslan 28 DF Nurhisham Suhaimi 30 DF Nooruddeen Tajuddeen

No. Position Player 31 DF Noorullah Jahangir 32 FW Nur Hakim Jumahat 35 DF T Mohaanaraj 36 MF Jasper Tan Qun Han 37 DF Shariff Shaik Ahmad 38 FW Marin Jonjić 39 GK Faris Zulhilmi 40 DF Daud Aziz

Notable Former Players [link]

Club Officials [link]

Management [link]

• Chairman: Lam Shiu Tong
• Vice-Chairman: Mohamad Fadzully Abas & Donald Tan
• Honorary Secretary: Kok Wai Leong
• Honorary Treasurer: Douglas Tan
• Club Advisor: Laurence Goh

Technical Staff [link]

• Head Coach: V.Selvaraj
• Prime League Coach: V.Selvaraj
• Goalkeeper Coach: Rezal Hassan
• Sports Trainer: Herwan Kamsani & Silas Abdul Karim
• Youth Coach: Razif Onn & Hairi Su'ap

Former managers [link]

• Vincent Subramaniam (1996-1998)
• Mladen Pralija (1999)
• Fandi Ahmad (2000–03)
• Jimmy Shoulder (2004)
• Kim Poulsen (2005)
• Richard Bok (2006-2012)

Honours [link]

Domestic [link]

League

• S.League: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Cups

• Singapore FA Cup: 1997
• Singapore Cup: 1999, 2007, 2008, 2012
• Singapore Charity Shield: 2008, 2010

Performance in AFC competitions [link]

• AFC Champions League: 2 appearance

2009: Group Stage

2010: Group Stage

• Asian Club Championship: 3 appearances

1999: First Round

2000: Second Round

2002: First Round

• AFC Cup: 2 appearances

2007: Quarter-Finals

2008: Quarter-Finals

• AFC Cup Winners Cup: 2 appearances

1997/98: Second Round

2000/01: First Round

Sponsors [link]

• Main Sponsor: STAR Automotive Centre &
  United Engineers Limited
• Kit Supplier: Svolme

References [link]

1. ^ "SAFFC renamed as Warriors FC". ESPN Star. https://www.espnstar.com/football/sleague/news/detail/item922996/SAFFC-renamed-as-Warriors-FC/.
2. ^ https://www.safwarriors.com.sg/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=11
3. ^ https://www.sleague.com/Web/main.aspx?ID=693b0933-5803-4580-a1bf-c0504756b2ee,,&TargetPageID=
4. ^ https://www.safwarriors.com.sg/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106&Itemid=38
5. ^ Malathi Das and Palakrishnan (1996), "S.League: the kick-off", Singapore Professional Football League Pte Ltd, p. 38
6. ^ "SAFFC renamed as Warriors FC". ESPN Star. https://www.espnstar.com/football/sleague/news/detail/item922996/SAFFC-renamed-as-Warriors-FC/.

External links [link]

• Official club website
• S.League website page on SAFFC
• Svome Singapore

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de:Warriors FC es:Singapore Armed Forces Football Club fr:Singapore Armed Forces Football Club ko:싱가포르 암드 포스 FC id:Warriors F.C. nl:Singapore Armed Forces Football Club ja:シンガポール・アームド・フォーシズFC pl:Singapore Armed Forces F.C. pt:Singapore Armed Forces Football Club sr:ФК Оружане снаге Сингапура zh:勇士足球會