Hougang United FC
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Hougang United Football Club is a professional football club based in Hougang, Singapore. The club competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singaporean football. Founded in 1998 as Marine Castle United, the club changed its name to Hougang United in 2011. Nicknamed the Cheetahs, Hougang United has played its home games at Hougang Stadium since its formation.
Currently, the club is playing its home games at the Jalan Besar Stadium, as the Hougang Stadium is undergoing renovation.
History
Foundation
The club was founded as Marine Castle United Football Club, which was formed by Newcastle United fans in the Marine Parade area in 1998. Upon successful entry into the S.League in 1998, the club struggled in its early foray in the first few years, finishing in the bottom two for the next four seasons. The club's chairman was Dilwant Singh who became the club manager and head coach of the prime league team throughout his time at the club. Marine Castle then changed its name to Sengkang Marine Football Club in 2002 and the Dilwant was succeeded by David Rowe in which Dilwant became the assistant head coach. Sengkang Marine then went on to finish in 8th position consecutively, its highest-ever finish in its short history.
Merger with Paya Lebar-Punggol
Financial difficulties then forced Sengkang Marine out of the S.League in 2004, and Paya Lebar-Punggol Football Club took its place in 2005, finishing the season as a wooden spoonist. The two clubs then merged their resources from 2006 to 2010 to form Sengkang Punggol Football Club, finishing no higher than 10th.
Permanently renaming the club's name as Hougang United (2011–present)
On 1 January 2011, the chairman of Sengkang Punggol Football Club, Mr. Bill Ng, announced the changes that began the rewriting of another chapter of the football club. With improved financial status and a change in name to the present Hougang United Football Club, there has been renewed optimism among the Hougang fan base around the club's home stadium since its inception, Hougang Stadium.[1] The club also had its fair share of marquee players in the earlier days such as Michael Currie, who formerly played for Queens Park Rangers). Conversely, Grant Holt began his early career at the club, before going on to play for upper-division clubs in England, such as Nottingham Forest and Norwich City in the English Premier League.
In November 2014, it was announced that Hougang United and Woodlands Wellington will merge for the 2015 season.[2]
AFC Cup debut
Hougang United made their AFC Cup debut in the 2020 AFC Cup but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament got cancelled thus only winning one match against Laos side, Lao Toyota 1–3 at the New Laos National Stadium in Vientiane. The Cheetahs also qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage where they play all their match in a centralised venue at the Thống Nhất Stadium in Vietnam which saw Hougang United finishing 2nd out of 4th place winning 4–3 against Cambodian side, Phnom Penh Crown and defeating Laos side, Young Elephants 1–3 before suffering a heavy defeat to Vietnamese club, Viettel 5–2.
First silverware
On 19 November 2022, under the lead of caretaker manager Firdaus Kassim, Hougang United defeated defending champions, Tampines Rovers 3–2 in the 2022 Singapore Cup final in which Kristijan Krajček scored a hat-trick to secure The Cheetahs their first-ever silverware.[3]
The club also finished 5th in the Singapore Premier League in the same season which meant they failed to qualify for any continental competitions but due to their Singapore Cup win, they snatched an AFC Cup spot from fellow Singapore Premier League club, Geylang International.[4] Hougang United started off their 2023–24 AFC Cup campaign with a trip to Kota Kinabalu facing Sabah on 21 September 2023 where they played their first fixtures in a heavy downpour which they suffered a 3–1 away loss however in the next match against Haiphong at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Hougang United bounced back from 1–0 down as Đorđe Maksimović scored a brace in the last 10 minute in the game to settled for a 2–1 victory as the Cheetahs collected the 3 points. Hougang United went on to have a great run in the 2023 Singapore Cup where they reached the final but were unable to retain their cup.
Sponsors
| Period | Kit manufacturer |
|---|---|
| 2011 | Template:Flagicon Mitre |
| 2012 | Template:Flagicon Acono |
| 2013 | Template:Flagicon Waga |
| 2014 | Template:Flagicon Macron |
| 2015–2018 | Template:Flagicon Vonda |
| 2019–2022 | Template:Flagicon Warrix |
| 2023 | Template:Flagicon Ari |
| 2024–present | Template:Flagicon Kelme |
| Season | Main Sponsors |
|---|---|
| 2015–2016 | ESW Manage |
| 2017–2020 | ESW Manage |
| 2020–2021 | Template:Flagicon Northstar Group |
| 2022–2024 | Template:Flagicon The Physio Circle[5] |
Ownership and finances
Partnership
On 22 November 2014, Hougang United announced a partnership with Global Football Academy for the 2015 S.League season.[6] On 16 November 2021, Hougang United announced the signing of the main sponsorship with The Physio Circle for 3 years starting from 2022 to 2024.
On 19 October 2022, Hougang United announced the signing of sponsorship with Advance Capital Partners Pte Ltd for its women's team competing in the FAS Women's Premier League.
Scholarship
The Hougang United Scholarship was launched in May 2015. The scholarship aims to support and facilitate the academic development of young non-professional footballing talents.[7]
Stadium
The Cheetah's home ground is based at the Hougang Stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 3,800 people. They were the tenant at the stadium from 1998 until 2023 before moving out to the Jalan Besar Stadium temporarily for the season due to renovation works. The club was once the sole club to play in a stadium in the north-eastern part of Singapore but since the implementation of VAR for the 2023 Singapore Premier League season, the club has been forced to move to the Jalan Besar Stadium as their new home stadium for the time being.[8]
Supporters
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The club uniquely has an enthusiastic supporters' club known as the Hougang HOOLS (Hougang Only One Love), which was established in 2010.[9]
There is also a fan website representing the Hougang support as a whole: https://www.hougangunitedfans.com/ The site features a blog, forum, players roster and a list of content creators who also bleed Hougang.
The hashtag #1H1H (Satu Hati Satu Hougang) or (One Heart One Hougang) was made popular by the supporters and had been featured on the 2023 Jersey.
Players
Current squad
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|
Under-21s and Academy
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On loan
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|
Technical staff
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| General manager | Template:Flagicon Peter Lim |
| Team manager | Template:Flagicon Robert Eziakor |
| Head coach | Template:Flagicon Pannarai Pansiri |
| Assistant coach | Template:Flagicon Hamid Raeiskarimi |
| Goalkeeper coach | Template:Flagicon Scott Starr |
| Fitness coach | Template:Flagicon Rosman Sulaiman |
| Strength and Conditioning coach | Template:Flagicon Syaqir Sulaiman |
| Sports Trainer | Template:Flagicon Thomas Pang |
| Template:Flagicon Seishen Ratnagopal | |
| Physiotherapist | Template:Flagicon Seishen Gerard |
| Equipment Manager | Template:Flagicon Richard Lim |
| Equipment Officer | Template:Flagicon Wan Azlan |
| U-17 coach | Template:Flagicon Hamid Raeiskarimi |
| U-15 coach | Template:Flagicon Firdaus Mohamed |
| U-13 coach | Template:Flagicon Hairil Amin |
List of former managers
| Name | Period | Silverware |
|---|---|---|
| As Marine Castle United | ||
| Template:Flagicon Alan Vest | (1 January–30 July 2001) | |
| As Sengkang Marine | ||
| Template:Flagicon Trevor Morgan | (1 August 2001 – 30 July 2003) | |
| Template:Flagicon Abdullah Noor | (1 August–31 December 2003) | |
| As Paya Lebar Punggol | ||
| Template:Flagicon Chow Kwai Lam | (1 January–4 June 2005) | |
| Template:Flagicon Qi Yubo | (12 June–31 December 2005) | |
| As Sengkang Punggol | ||
| Template:Flagicon Trevor Morgan | (10 January 2006 – 19 September 2007) | |
| Template:Flagicon Saswadimata Dasuki | (20 September 2007 – 21 July 2008) | |
| Template:Flagicon Mirko Grabovac (caretaker) | (29 July–5 October 2008) | |
| Template:Flagicon Swandi Ahmad (interim) | (6 October–31 December 2008) | |
| Template:Flagicon Jörg Steinebrunner | (1 January–24 June 2009) | |
| As Hougang United | ||
| Template:Flagicon Aide Iskandar (interim) | (25 June–31 December 2009) | |
| Template:Flagicon Aide Iskandar | (1 January 2010 – 31 December 2011) | |
| Template:Flagicon Nenad Bacina | (1 December 2011 – 30 November 2012) | |
| Template:Flagicon Johana Johari (interim) | (30 November–31 December 2012) | |
| Template:Flagicon Alex Weaver | (1 January–31 March 2013) | |
| Template:Flagicon Johana Johari (interim) | (April 2013–August 2013) | |
| Template:Flagicon Amin Nasir | (21 August 2013 – 31 December 2014) | |
| Template:Flagicon Salim Moin | (1 January–30 October 2015) | |
| Template:Flagicon K. Balagumaran | (1 November 2015 – 30 November 2016) | |
| Template:Flagicon Philippe Aw | (January 2017–June 2018) | |
| Template:Flagicon Clement Teo | (June 2017–20 November 2022) | |
| Template:Flagicon Firdaus Kassim | (20 November 2022–17 April 2023) | 2022 Singapore Cup |
| Template:Flagicon Marko Kraljević | (17 April 2023–24 December 2024) | 2023 Singapore Cup runner-ups |
| Template:Flagicon Robert Eziakor (interim) | 24 December 2024–present | |
Seasons
| Season | Name Changed | League | Pos. | P | W | D | L | GS | GA | Pts | Singapore Cup | League Cup | AFC Champions League | FIFA Club World Cup |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Marine Castle United | S.League | 11th | 20 | 2 | 3 | 15 | 19 | 44 | 9 | Group stage | Not qualified | ||
| 1999 | 12th | 22 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 21 | 56 | 12 | Round of 16 | |||||
| 2000 | 11th | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 18 | 45 | 16 | Round of 16 | |||||
| 2001 | 11th | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 35 | 71 | 27 | Group stage | |||||
| 2002 | Sengkang Marine | 8th | 33 | 11 | 6 | 16 | 62 | 84 | 39 | Semi-finals | ||||
| 2003 | 8th | 33 | 7 | 8–1 | 17 | 32 | 66 | 38 | Group stage | |||||
| 2004 | ||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Paya Lebar Punggol | S.League | 10th | 27 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 23 | 78 | 4 | Preliminary | Not qualified | Not qualified | |
| 2006 | Sengkang Punggol | 11th | 30 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 32 | 72 | 18 | Quarter-finals | ||||
| 2007 | 11th | 33 | 5 | 10 | 18 | 39 | 69 | 25 | Quarter-finals | Runners-up | ||||
| 2008 | 11th | 33 | 3 | 10 | 20 | 13 | 54 | 19 | Round of 16 | Preliminary | ||||
| 2009 | 10th | 30 | 5 | 6 | 19 | 26 | 58 | 21 | Round of 16 | Group stage | ||||
| 2010 | 11th | 33 | 7 | 6 | 20 | 24 | 48 | 27 | Round of 16 | Semi-finals | ||||
| 2011 | Hougang United | 7th | 33 | 15 | 3 | 15 | 55 | 63 | 43* | Semi-finals | Runners-up | |||
| 2012 | 8th | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 31 | 33 | 29 | Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | ||||
| 2013 | 10th | 27 | 9 | 3 | 15 | 37 | 40 | 30 | Quarter-finals | Group stage | ||||
| 2014 | 7th | 27 | 12 | 6 | 9 | 49 | 42 | 42 | Preliminary | Semi-finals | ||||
| 2015 | 10th | 27 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 28 | 42 | 21 | Preliminary | Semi-finals | ||||
| 2016 | 6th | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 35 | 39 | 32 | Preliminary | Group stage | ||||
| 2017 | 6th | 24 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 24 | 31 | 30 | Semi-finals | Group stage | ||||
| 2018 | Singapore Premier League | 9th | 24 | 2 | 6 | 16 | 22 | 44 | 12 | Quarter finals | ||||
| 2019 | 3rd | 24 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 58 | 45 | 43 | Group stage | |||||
| 2020 | 6th | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 24 | 15 | ||||||
| 2021 | 3rd | 21 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 48 | 40 | 34 | ||||||
- 2003 saw the introduction of penalty shoot-outs if a match ended in a draw in regular time. Winners of penalty shoot-outs gained two points instead of one.
- Sengkang Marine sat out the 2004 S.League season. They merged with Paya Lebar Punggol to form Sengkang Marine on their return to the S.League in 2006.
- Hougang United deducted 5-point for a pre-match brawl with Etoile during the 2011 season.
Continental record
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | AFC Cup | Group F | Template:Flagicon Lao Toyota | Cancelled | 3–1 | 3rd out of 4 |
| Template:Flagicon Hồ Chí Minh City | 2–3 | Cancelled | ||||
| Template:Flagicon Yangon United | Cancelled | 0–1 | ||||
| 2022 | Group I | Template:Flagicon Phnom Penh Crown | 4–3 | 2nd out of 4 | ||
| Template:Flagicon Young Elephants | 3–1 | |||||
| Template:Flagicon Viettel | 2–5 | |||||
| 2023–24 | Group H | Template:Flagicon Sabah | 1–4 | 1–3 | 4th out of 4 | |
| Template:Flagicon Hải Phòng | 2–1 | 0–4 | ||||
| Template:Flagicon PSM Makassar | 1–3 | 1–3 |
Honours
Cup
- Singapore Cup
- Singapore Community Shield
- Singapore League Cup
- Runners up (1): 2012
Personal awards
Domestic
- League Player of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Stipe Plazibat (2020)
- League Coach of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Clement Teo (2021)
- League Team of the Year
- Template:Flagicon Nazrul Nazari (2019)
- Template:Flagicon Faris Ramli (2019)
- Template:Flagicon Kaishu Yamazaki (2021)
- Template:Flagicon Tomoyuki Doi (2021)
Records and statistics
As of 3 May 2025.
Top 10 all-time appearances
| Rank | Player | Years | Club appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Nazrul Nazari | 2016–present | 208 |
| 2 | Template:Flagicon Lau Meng Meng | 2009–2015 | 174 |
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Nurhilmi Jasni | 2012–2018 | 165 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Faizal Amir | 2010–2016 | 146 |
| 5 | Template:Flagicon Fadhil Salim | 2010–2014 | 142 |
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Azhar Sairudin | 2011–2014,
2017 |
138 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Fairoz Hasan | 2013–2017,
2023 |
137 |
| 8 | Template:Flagicon Sobrie Mazelan | 2008–2014 | 135 |
| 9 | Template:Flagicon Fazli Jaffar | 2011–2014,
2015 |
130 |
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Mamadou Diallo | 2008–2013 | 126 |
Top 10 all-time scorers
| Rank | Player | Club appearances | Total goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Template:Flagicon Stipe Plazibat | 57 | 34 |
| Template:Flagicon Jordan Webb | 88 | ||
| 3 | Template:Flagicon Mamadou Diallo | 126 | 28 |
| 4 | Template:Flagicon Dejan Račić | 28 | 23 |
| Template:Flagicon Pedro Bortoluzo | 30 | ||
| Template:Flagicon Geison Moura | 32 | ||
| 6 | Template:Flagicon Diego Gama | 63 | 22 |
| 7 | Template:Flagicon Kristijan Krajček | 56 | 21 |
| Template:Flagicon Shawal Anuar | 68 | ||
| 10 | Template:Flagicon Tomoyuki Doi | 21 | 19 |
| Template:Flagicon Nurhilmi Jasni | 165 |
- Biggest Wins: 7–3 vs Tampines Rovers (11 September 2021)
- Heaviest Defeats: 8–2 vs Lion City Sailors (13 August 2023)
- Youngest Goal scorers: Farhan Zulkifli ~ 16 years 7 months 19 days old (On 29 June 2019 vs Home United)
- Oldest Goal scorers: Shahril Ishak ~ 38 years 6 months 28 days old (On 20 August 2022 vs Young Lions)
- Youngest ever debutant: Farhan Zulkifli ~ 16 years 7 months 19 days old (On 29 June 2019 vs Home United)
Notable players
- Template:Flagicon Scott O'Donell
- Template:Flagicon Grant Holt
- Template:Flagicon Michael Currie
- Template:Flagicon Jason White
- Template:Flagicon Jordan Webb
- Template:Flagicon Mamadou Diallo
- Template:Flagicon Tomoyuki Doi
- Template:Flagicon Pedro Bortoluzo
- Template:Flagicon André Moritz
- Template:Flagicon Kristijan Krajček
References
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External links
- Template:Oweb
- Team profileTemplate:Category handler[<span title="Script error: No such module "string".">usurped]Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". on S.League official website
- Template:Facebook
- Template:Twitter
- Template:Instagram
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