The Lion City Cup is a youth football tournament for boys. It was founded in 1977 by then Football Association of Singapore chairman Nadesan Ganesan, who organized the only Under-16 football tournament in the world, following the recommendation of FIFA's then secretary-general, Sepp Blatter, who was in Singapore for the 1982 Lion City Cup. The Cup has been credited with inspiring the creation of the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship hosted in China at FIFA's request.[1][2]
The Lion City Cup was first introduced in 1977, and the tournament was aimed at nurturing and developing youth footballing talents in Singapore. When the tournament was first started in 1977, it first featured youth teams from Malaysian state representative sides, given that there was keen interest in the Malaysia League and Cup competitions then. That year, a young Philip Yeo [arguably the most gifted footballer Singapore has ever known] who was the captain, helped Singapore emerge as champions after thrashing Pahang 5-0, in the finals played on 18 December 1977 at the old National Stadium. While the tournament was a regular annual affair from 1977 to 1982, the competition was discontinued from 1983 to 1989 because in 1982, the momentum of the event attracted the interest of FIFA, paving the way for the first FIFA U-16 World Cup in 1985. As a consequence, it became impracticable to hold the Lion City Cup with the same international caliber of invitees, and the competition was not held again until 1990 when it was revived in its original form and was an annual affair from that year until 2001, and then it went on a hiatus again for two years.
The tournament has been held at the Jalan Besar Stadium in Kallang as of now.
Multiple returns & hiatuses
In 2004, it came back to life for three years and then was not held in 2007.
In 2008, Thailand U-17 beat the UAE U-17 in the final and the event was scrapped for another two years.
Then another 3 continuous years of competitions from 2011 to 2013, before being abolished in 2014 due to lack of sponsors.
The event returned in 2015 only to be discontinued for the next seven years.
2023 comeback
The Lion City Cup returned for the 27th edition as an Under-15 tournament[3] in 2023 after a seven-year hiatus. The 2023 edition was held on the 1st and 3rd September 2023, and featured regional sides Selangor (Malaysia), BG Pathum United (Thailand), Borneo Samarinda (Indonesia). Singapore’s representative was the National Development Centre (NDC) Under-15 team. This marked the first time that BG Pathum and Borneo F.C. participated in the tournament.[4]
2024
The Lion City Cup returned for the 28th edition in 2024 as an U16 tournament. Held on 4 and 6 October 2024, it featured the 2023 holders, BG Pathum United (Thailand) and 2 other regional sides. Making their tournament debuts were Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. (Malaysia) & Tokyo Verdy (Japan). Singapore’s representative was the National Under-16 team.[5]
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