1996 S.League

Eight sides took part in the first S.League campaign; two of whom had been competitors in the former Singapore Premier League. These former Premier League clubs were Balestier United FC who changed their name upon joining the S.League to Balestier Central and the former Singapore Premier League powerhouse Geylang International, winners of six back-to-back Premier League titles, who renamed themselves Geylang United for the first S.League season. The rest were clubs drawn from the amateur National Football League: Police, Singapore Armed Forces, Tampines Rovers, Tiong Bahru United and Wellington Football Club, who renamed themselves Woodlands Wellington.

Sembawang Rangers were formed from a merger between two NFL sides, Gibraltar Crescent and Sembawang Sports Club.

{{Location map+ |Singapore |width=800 |float=none |caption=Location of teams in 1996 S.League| places=

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.330401 |long=103.852891 |label=Balestier Central|position=left}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.326406 |long=103.939264 |label=Geylang United|position=right}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.310016 |long=103.860347 |label=Police|position=right}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.412389 |long=103.832334 |label=Sembawang Rangers|position=right}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.33327 |long=103.719429 |label=Singapore Armed Forces|position=left}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.352904 |long=103.940524 |label=Tampines Rovers|position=top}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.29589 |long=103.802417 |label=Tiong Bahru United|position=bottom}}

{{Location map~ |Singapore |lat=1.434591 |long=103.780788 |label=Woodlands Wellington|position=left}}

}}

class="wikitable sortable"
Team ! Stadium ! Capacity ! Location
Balestier Central	Toa Payoh Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 3,900	Toa Payoh
Geylang United	Bedok Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 3,900	Bedok
Police	Jalan Besar Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 8,000	Kallang
Singapore Armed Forces	Jurong Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 6,000	Jurong
Sembawang Rangers	Yishun Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 3,400	Yishun
Tampines Rovers	Tampines Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 3,600	Tampines
Tiong Bahru United	Queenstown Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 3,800	Queenstown
Woodlands Wellington	Woodlands Stadium | style="text-align:center;"| 4,300	Woodlands

class="wikitable"
style="width:190px;"| Club ! style="width:190px;"| Player 1 ! style="width:190px;"| Player 2 ! style="width:190px;"| Player 3 ! style="width:190px;"| Player 4 ! style="width:190px;"| Player 5
Balestier Central | {{flagicon|SCG}} Ljutvo Bugucanin | {{flagicon|CRO}} Goran Paulić | {{flagicon|CRO}} Marko Kraljević | {{flagicon|SCG}} Esad Sejdic | {{flagicon|Liberia}} Nathaniel Klay Naplah{{Cite web|url=http://www.balestierkhalsafc.com/match/72|title=balestierkhalsafc.com|website=www.balestierkhalsafc.com}}
Geylang United | {{flagicon|IRN}} Mohammad Khakpour | {{flagicon|IRN}} Hamid Reza Estili | {{Flagicon|NZ}} Chris Riley | {{flagicon|CRO}} Zlatko Vidan | {{flagicon|IRN}} Mohsen Garousi
Police | {{flagicon|BRA}} Egmar Goncalves | {{flagicon|BRA}} Fabio da Silva | {{flagicon|BRA}} Joao Batista Neto | {{flagicon|BRA}} Sergio Cleveland | {{flagicon|BRA}}
Singapore Armed Forces | {{flagicon|CRO}} Ivica Raguž | {{flagicon|CRO}} Jure Ereš | {{flagicon|CRO}} Velimir Crljen | {{flagicon|CRO}} Davor Mioč | {{flagicon|CRO}} Goran Grubesic
Sembawang Rangers | {{flagicon|BRA}} Anderson Da Silva | {{flagicon|HUN}} Laszlo Kardos | {{flagicon|NZ}} Mark Atkinson | {{flagicon|SEN}} Ousmane N'Diaye | {{flagicon

}

|-

| Tampines Rovers

| {{flagicon|HUN}} Nagy Gabor

| {{flagicon|BRA}} Marco Antonio

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Scott O'Donell

| {{flagicon|GHA}} Seidu Suleiman Anas

| {{flagicon|CRO}} Nikolic Miroslav

|-

| Tiong Bahru United

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Vlado Bozinoski

| {{flagicon|SVK}} Tibor Szaban

| {{flagicon|AUS}} David Miller

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Pedro Ricoy

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Ivan Kelic

|-

| Woodlands Wellington

| {{flagicon|CRO}} Ervin Boban

| {{flagicon|CRO}} Sandro Radun

| {{flagicon|CZE}} Jan Janostak

| {{flagicon|AUS}} Joe Caleta

| {{flagicon|ENG}} Steven Rocknean

|-

|}

{{#invoke:Sports table|main|style=football

|update=complete

|section=Series 1

|source=[https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/sing96.html RSSSF]

|team1=GLU |team2=WLW | team3=BLC |team4=SAF |team5=TBU |team6=POL |team7=SEM |team8=TAM

|result1 = CSP

|win_BLC=7 |draw_BLC=3 |loss_BLC=4 |gf_BLC=22 |ga_BLC=18

|win_GLU=9 |draw_GLU=1 |loss_GLU=4 |gf_GLU=27 |ga_GLU=14

|win_POL=4 |draw_POL=5 |loss_POL=5 |gf_POL=22 |ga_POL=23

|win_SEM=3 |draw_SEM=4 |loss_SEM=7 |gf_SEM=17 |ga_SEM=32

|win_SAF=5 |draw_SAF=3 |loss_SAF=6 |gf_SAF=27 |ga_SAF=25

|win_TAM=3 |draw_TAM=3 |loss_TAM=8 |gf_TAM=18 |ga_TAM=27

|win_TBU=4 |draw_TBU=5 |loss_TBU=5 |gf_TBU=20 |ga_TBU=19

|win_WLW=8 |draw_WLW=2 |loss_WLW=4 |gf_WLW=25 |ga_WLW=20

|name_BLC = Balestier Central

|name_GLU = Geylang United

|name_POL = Police FC

|name_SEM = Sembawang Rangers

|name_SAF = Singapore Armed Forces

|name_TAM = Tampines Rovers

|name_TBU = Tiong Bahru United

|name_WLW = Woodlands Wellington

|show_limit=5

|class_rules = 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

|res_col_header=Q

|col_CSP=green1 |text_CSP=Qualification to
S.League Championship
play-off match

}}

{{#invoke:Sports table|main|style=football

|section=Series 2

|update=complete

|source=[https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/sing96.html RSSSF]

|team1=SAF |team2=TBU | team3=BLC |team4=WLW |team5=GLU |team6=SEM |team7=TAM |team8=POL

|result1 = CSP

|win_BLC=7 |draw_BLC=3 |loss_BLC=4 |gf_BLC=25 |ga_BLC=19

|win_GLU=6 |draw_GLU=3 |loss_GLU=5 |gf_GLU=20 |ga_GLU=16

|win_POL=2 |draw_POL=2 |loss_POL=10 |gf_POL=18 |ga_POL=40

|win_SEM=4 |draw_SEM=3 |loss_SEM=7 |gf_SEM=14 |ga_SEM=23

|win_SAF=9 |draw_SAF=5 |loss_SAF=0 |gf_SAF=32 |ga_SAF=14

|win_TAM=2 |draw_TAM=2 |loss_TAM=10 |gf_TAM=10 |ga_TAM=28

|win_TBU=8 |draw_TBU=3 |loss_TBU=3 |gf_TBU=35 |ga_TBU=18

|win_WLW=6 |draw_WLW=3 |loss_WLW=5 |gf_WLW=29 |ga_WLW=25

|name_BLC = Balestier Central

|name_GLU = Geylang United

|name_POL = Police FC

|name_SEM = Sembawang Rangers

|name_SAF = Singapore Armed Forces

|name_TAM = Tampines Rovers

|name_TBU = Tiong Bahru United

|name_WLW = Woodlands Wellington

|show_limit=5

|class_rules = 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored

|res_col_header=Q

|col_CSP=green1 |text_CSP=Qualification to
S.League Championship
play-off match

}}

{{Football box

| date = {{Start date|1996|11|9|df=y}}

| time =

| team1 = Singapore Armed Forces

| score = 1–2

| report =

| team2 = Geylang United

| goals1 = Jure Ereš {{goal|52}}

| goals2 = Mohammad Khakpour {{goal|46}}
Hamid Reza Estili {{goal|61}}

| stadium = Singapore National Stadium, Kallang

| attendance = 30,000

| referee =

}}

The Geylang United victory in the Championship Playoff saw them qualify for the 1997–98 Asian Club Championship. This was the first Singaporean representation in the Asian Club Championship since 1991–92, when Geylang International participated in 1st Round qualifying. Geylang were comfortably defeated by 1996 J.League champions Kashima Antlers in the first round of the East Asian half of the competition, Kashima finishing with an 8–2 aggregate win.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|last=Ong|first=Henry|title=Singapore 1996|website=RSSSF|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tabless/sing96.html|access-date=8 May 2014}}

{{S-League}}

Category:Singapore Premier League seasons

1

Sing

Sing