1 1. Professor Ho Peng Kee, FAS
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ADDRESS BY MR LIM KIA TONG PRESIDENT, FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF SINGAPORE 37TH FAS ANNUAL CONGRESS SATURDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER 2019, 9.00AM RAFFLES TOWN CLUB 1. Professor Ho Peng Kee, FAS Advisor 2. Lavin Vignesh, FIFA Development Manager 3. Sandjar Rizaev, Head of MA & Regional Associations (Central Asia Unit), AFC 4. Varankumar Sagaran, MA & Regional Associations Secretary, AFC 5. Todd Vladich, Director of NSA Capability Development, Singapore Sport Institute 6. FAS Executive Committee and Council members 7. Chairman and Representatives of SPL Clubs 8. Chairman and Representatives of NFL Clubs 9. FAS Affiliates 10. Sponsors and Partners 11. FAS Staff 12. Friends from the Media 13. Ladies and Gentlemen 1 Introduction 1. A very good morning to all and welcome to the 37th Annual Congress of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Congress Cup 2019 2. As part of the efforts to strengthen ties, we launched the inaugural edition of the FAS Congress Cup last year to provide a platform for stakeholders and members of our football fraternity to come together through our Beautiful Game. Similarly this year, as a prelude to the Congress, the Congress Cup was held last evening to great success. 3. Amongst the 10 teams which participated last evening, Team FAS Staff claimed the Champions title while Team NFL and Team SPL finished as first and second runners-up respectively. Congratulations to the winning teams once again and I hope everyone had enjoyed themselves last evening.. Annual Report 4. The past year has been an exciting one where we embraced various challenges and introduced new initiatives to achieve our four key objectives of Youth Development, Capability Development, Cost Efficiency and Vibrant Football Culture. Details of the activities may be found in the Annual Report on the FAS website. Organisational Restructure 5. At the organisational level, the FAS underwent restructuring – specifically to review the structure of the Technical Department for a more effective delivery of our Strategic Plan. 6. After careful assessment and consultation with our stakeholders, we made the decision to abolish the FAS National Football Academy this year. We wanted 2 to decentralise the development of youth players to widen the base of elite players for selection of the age-group national teams. Instead, the FAS will work with Singapore Premier League (SPL) clubs, schools and academies to develop and administer standards for youth development. 7. Key appointments were subsequently made in the Technical Department. Joseph Palatsides and Tatsuma Yoshida took on the positions of Technical Director and Men’s National Team Coach respectively while Fadzuhasny Juraimi and Philippe Aw were appointed head coaches of the Under-15 and Under-18 National Teams respectively. The National Youth Team coaches – which includes Fandi Ahmad – will work alongside Joseph and Tatsuma to enhance the development of our age-group teams, develop a pipeline of players for the National Team from the youth level and ensure a congruent style of play. 8. Additionally, Zainudeen Hassan has been appointed as the new Head of Coach Education and Development, where he will work closely with coaches from SPL clubs and their Centres of Excellence as well as implementing the FAS Coach Education syllabus to further develop local football coaches in line with AFC standards. He will also play a key role in ensuring the ecosystem’s youth development is aligned with the FAS’ Development philosophy. Singapore Premier League Shared Stadiums 9. Another area where we have focused efforts on, is the SPL. In an effort to create a vibrant football culture, we embarked on the shared stadiums initiative as part of Sport Singapore’s Sports Facilities Master plan to increase the level of engagement with fans. Identified football stadiums were upgraded with better facilities and the latest technology to create football-centric stadiums where SPL fans can look forward to more football programmes and improved match- day experience. 3 2019 season 10. The last matches of the season will be played tomorrow but Brunei DPMM has already sealed the champions spot two weeks ago. I would like to congratulate Brunei DPMM for clinching their second SPL title. It was a close fight for the title and heartening to see all teams, especially Hougang United and Tampines Rovers, putting up a good fight till the end. Referees 11. We are proud that our referees have been flying the Singapore flag high in the past year. A trio of our local FIFA referees – Muhammad Taqi Aljaafari, Ronnie Koh and Abdul Hannan – were appointed to officiate at the 2019 FIFA Under- 20 World Cup in Poland. We also had Singaporean match officials officiating in Asia’s most prestigious football tournament – the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup. 12. These appointments by FIFA and AFC are testament of FAS’ structured training program in producing top-class match officials and prove that our top referees can be on par with the world’s best. We are glad to note that Singapore currently has a total 11 AFC elite referees and assistant referees, a big feat for a small country like ours. The FAS will continue in our efforts to raise local refereeing standards by creating more learning opportunities and a clear development pathway for referees. Women’s Football 13. Women’s football has also seen a more vibrant football calendar. International tournaments were organised for the senior and Under-15 Women’s National Team such as the FAS International Women’s Quadrangular and the UEFA- FAS Under-15 Girls’ Tournament 2019 respectively, where both teams finished second. The tournaments were aimed at providing opportunities for the development of youth players and for the teams to pit themselves against quality opposition, with the support and expertise of the AFC and UEFA. 4 Stakeholders and Partnerships 14. Our shared vision for Singapore football was adopted by our stakeholders and I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to them. AFC 15. I would like to specially thank the AFC whom have supported us through the AFC President’s Development Initiatives. We are grateful to have AFC Consultant Anter Issac and Development Officer Visakan Subramanian’s assistance in the continued development of Singapore football and key strategic implementations. FIFA 16. Another of our key partners is FIFA, with whom we have embarked on the FIFA Forward Programme. This programme supports Member Associations with grants for long-term football development. The FAS has utilised the funding for schemes such as enhancement of IT systems, football performance analysis software and projects to develop FAS’ referees. In total, we have prudently spent up to SGD 370,000 on these schemes. 17. FIFA also provides each Member Association up to USD 100,000 for the period 2016 until 2018, to purchase football equipment and football-related equipment. The FAS leveraged on this and purchased equipment to measure and keep track of players’ fitness levels in the SPL. This technology would be able to provide recommendations for conditioning and fitness training with their clubs. Infrastructure Upgrade 18. Adding on, in accordance with our Contract of Agreed Objectives (FORWARD 1.0) with FIFA, the FAS has also made a deliberate decision to embark on an infrastructure upgrade of its headquarters situated in Jalan Besar Stadium and install a new and improved artificial pitch to keep up with the volume of activities 5 at Jalan Besar Stadium. With activities such as matches, training, amateur games, grassroots activities and courses taking place at the stadium, the pitch is worn out at a faster pace. It is hence necessary to ensure that the pitch is able to support the high usage. 19. Ever since the FAS shifted into its HQ in 2003 ( 16 years ago ), there has not been any major upgrades to our office premises. With the availability of the FIFA Forward Funds, the FAS Executive Committee decided to leverage on this initiative and enhance the admin offices, and upgrade its training and competition facility. 20. The HQ's design concept and theme would be in line with Article 4 of the FAS Constitution, which is to ‘ promote friendly relations between its Members, Clubs, Officials and Players and in society for humanitarian objectives’. The office would have a welcoming and family feeling in its design, exhibiting a sense of vibrancy, buzz and energy. 21. This extensive infrastructure project is envisaged to be completed in late 2020, from conceptualisation to construction, with the expenditure expected to be in the region of up to USD 2 million. As a requirement by FIFA, this funds from FIFA (FORWARD 1.0) are meant exclusively for this Infrastructure upgrade of the FAS HQ at Jalan Besar Stadium. FIFA Forward 2.0 – Contract of Agreed Objectives 22. A brand new four year cycle from 2019 – 2022, also known as the FIFA Forward 2.0, had been implemented to dedicate more financial resources for football development. 23. The FAS will be embarking on the following priorities and agreed objectives for this cycle. These priorities areas would be in Infrastructure, Competitions, Capacity Building, Grassroots & Youth Development Programmes, and National Teams. 6 24. We thank FIFA for these initiatives. New Partnerships 25. Earlier this year, we welcomed AIA Singapore on board as the new title sponsor for the SPL. With their existing ties to football and notable presence in the Asia-Pacific region, we believe that this partnership will help us to achieve our goal of improving the vibrancy of local football and raising the standards of football in Singapore. We have already begun to work together to reach out to the community on a grassroots level when we hosted Tottenham Hotspur Global Development Coaches, Anton Blackwood and Shaun Harris in a coach exchange session earlier in June.