In this SailorFanTalk special, we have a new guest writer. I first came across his website a couple of months back, and was impressed by the think-pieces put out there. While I did not agree with everything written, I felt this was the variety needed on sailorfantalk.com. We need LCS fans to write, but sometimes we also want local football fans who are not LCS fans chiming in as well. So I reached out to him, and this piece was birthed!
Introducing Check King, our latest contributor to sailorfantalk.com! I hope you enjoy his unique style of writing, and I hope it gives you much food for thought as well. As always chime in in the comments!
On Feb 11, 2024 the Singapore Premier League confirmed a slew of new player registration rules. Squad sizes are now limited to between 18 and 25 registered players, teams are no longer required to start an under-23 local player in each game, and the league confirmed a 5+1+3 formula for foreign player registration.
Toward the end of 2023/24, the arrivals of Bailey, Richairo, and Rui led many to wonder what the Sailors’ long-term plans were regarding foreign player registration. Plainly, LCS’ outsized ability financial ability relative to other SPL teams was clear, as LCS could afford to sign Bailey as a replacement for Súper’s foreign player slot, relegating him to appearances only in continental competition.
After the kind of administrative and registration gymnastics that LCS contended with toward the end of last season, this transfer season kicked off with LCS’ need to manage their transfers in-house in the first place.
To that extent, the clearest transfer business for LCS arguably hasn’t been about transfers in – it is LCS having settled who has stayed. Fitting who stays in this formula, LCS had Bailey (AFC slot), Maxime, Rui, Richairo committed. When I first drafted this paragraph in the middle of February, I wrote that LCS had done all that clearance work to now “have space to sign two foreigners and three u-21 foreigners.”
Foreign Signings as Match-Winners
LCS’ work in foreign signings has remained the same. Put simply, foreign signings in the past were simple: you have a limited number of slots, and financial ability. The foreign signing needed to be someone who would win you matches on his own. Most foreign signings have been forwards or centre-backs in this respect. There has also been a large variance in quality: Ken Ilsø and Stipe Plazibat sit opposite Bernie Ibini-Isei on this large spectrum.
Usually, these foreign signings would serve as the spine of teams. In order to maximise their chances of winning, foreign signings occupied central positions, and we had (have) an ecosystem that requires an “emptying out” of our best local players in this position.
Looking at centre-backs, for example: Safuwan, Hariss, Irfan are players who have spent or who will spend most of their career abroad. The same is happening now with Jacob and Ikhsan.
With more foreign players in the starting 11 next season, the effect of “emptying out” is likely to be more pronounced for all clubs, not just LCS.
From the perspective of the Singapore national team, you would want players like Nur Adam, Hami and Zharfan to eventually go on and play abroad as well. LCS’ last two open-age foreign signings, Toni Datkovic and Bart Ramselaar, now fall into this category of players “down the spine”. Which local players will rise to the challenge and still wrest gametime for themselves in the face of increased competition?
FAS / AFC Calendar Alignment
At the same time, with FAS aligning registration rules with AFC competition, LCS has had to think very differently about both competitions in the last few seasons. This season and the next serve as important adjustment periods, especially after the upheaval of 2023/24.
After recording some spectacular results in the ACL, however, LCS fans should be prepared for a similar level of adjustment – here I’m thinking about Diego Lopes and the way he took some time to settle into the squad and contribute effectively. The spine of the team appears more settled too and most of the starters are in their supposed primes. Yet, LCS’ squad will not get any younger, so I’m not sure what LCS sees in its post-2026 future.
With their eyes on both ACL2 and the SPL, LCS’ sheer financial ability means that LCS’ squad-planning is an outlier amongst local clubs, and will do little to shape FAS’ broader SPL registration rules.
Ironically, however, LCS may benefit from any long-term fruits that the new u-21 foreigner rule encourages in the next few seasons for other clubs who lean into this kind of signing and develop their own overseas partnerships. The same sheer financial ability will mean that LCS can wait for say, Tanjong Pagar Utd to experiment with foreign youngsters, and if they strike gold with one import, LCS can just swoop in to sign him.
Yet, given that the full alignment of FAS/AFC registration and calendar competitions might be complete minimally after two years, it might be fascinating to see if LCS simultaneously develop the ability to lean into this new type of youth signing.
BGTRFC, FAS Reform, and Youth Signings
If we turn our attention away from the Sailors, this new u-21 rule gives other clubs this year something else to think about. This u-21 rule offers a different type of foreign signing, making it easier for clubs to attract youth players in other ecosystems to develop in Singapore. Tampines’ ([now BG Tampines Rovers](https://www.tampinesrovers.com/chairmans-message)) partnership with BG in Thailand, and its swift signing of two young Thai players, was the best example of this new relationship.
It is far too early now to argue how this rule will pan out. Mostly, this rule has to be read with wider FAS reforms in mind, and with the consideration that FAS’ main priority now is the raising of grassroots levels of football, and the fact that these results on the level of professional football will take decades to bear fruit.
From the FAS’ perspective, having talented u-21 foreigners serves to do a few things on paper: (1) immediately diversify the short-term level of competitive play – almost like allocating the young players in a traditional Albirex squad to each team; (2) expose local youth players to the “free market” of ASEAN and East Asian youth players (our youngsters get to benchmark themselves against the region’s young professional footballers in a league setting); and (3) develop a long-term reputation for SPL as a reliable league for youth talents.
Whether or not teams are confident they can take up this kind of signing is difficult to predict. Is their development best served being here when game time might not be guaranteed? Can clubs create the right environment off the pitch that allows a young adult moving overseas to focus on his football? Additionally, will there be any impact on young footballers in Singapore by having young foreigners here too?
Albirex and BG Tampines seem best-equipped infrastructure and network-wise, but it remains to be seen if clubs will use this option at all.
Clean Slates
In summary, the 2024/2025 season has been put forward by the footballing authorities as a marker of positive change. Because these reforms heavily focus on youth and broader ecosystem integration, it is difficult to assess what this means league-wide. Regardless of what happens, for LCS fans, an unchanged transfers philosophy means that a league title is the bare minimum.
Written by Check King
Edited by Eddy Hirono
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