Balestier Khalsa FC

Balestier Khalsa FC

Full name	Balestier Khalsa Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Tigers
Founded	1898
Ground	Toa Payoh Stadium
Ground Capacity	3,896
Chairman	Thavaneson Selvaratnam
Head Coach	Marko Kraljević
League	S.League
2016	8th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a professional football club which plays in Singapore's S.League. The club's logo depicts a Tiger, the nickname of the club, on top of a pair of Kirpan. The logo is made up of key elements from the two clubs it was merged from. The Tiger is the mascot of the Balestier half of the merged entity while the kirpan is a religious dagger worn by members of the Sikh faith, who were a major backer of half of the merged entity through the Clementi club. ^[1]

History

Tracing their origins all the way back to 1898, the club was formed as Fathul Karib and based in Farrer Park. One of the highlights over the following half century, before the side was renamed Balestier United Recreation Club in the 1970s, was providing nine players to the Singapore side which competed in the 1958 Asian Games, losing 2-1 to both continental heavyweights South Korea and Israel.^[2]

Balestier United Recreational Club

The club's name was changed to Balestier United Recreation Club^[3] in April 1975, when it joined the inaugural National Football League. The team captured the Singapore Cup in 1958 and 1992. The club played in the Singapore Premier League (the forerunner to the S.League) from 1988 to 1995. The club became the first club in Singapore to bring in foreign players when they signed two Yugoslavian players, Josko Spanjic and Boris Lucic, for the 1989 season.

Balestier Central FC

In 1996, Balestier United Recreational Club became a founder member of the S.League and changed its name to Balestier Central FC.

Clementi Khalsa FC

Clementi Khalsa FC logo

Clementi Khalsa FC was formed as a club to represent Singapore's Sikh community and joined the S.League in 1999. Prior to the merger with Balestier Central, the club was based in the Clementi area of Singapore and played its home games at the Clementi Stadium.

Merger

The club is an amalgamation of Balestier Central Football Club and Clementi Khalsa Football Club who merged at the end of the 2002 S.League season. Due to its link with Clementi Khalsa, the club is very popular amongst Singapore’s Sikh community.

Balestier Khalsa FC

On August 10, 2012, Balestier Khalsa won the first League Cup Plate Final as the team defeated Courts Young Lions in the at Jalan Besar Stadium. On 14 September 2013, The Tigers went one level higher by scoring a huge 4–0 win over Brunei DPMM in the League Cup Final and clinched their first ever silverware. Balestier Khalsa signed former U-21 Croatian international Goran Ljubojević on February 11 2014 as their first ever marquee signing.^[4] The Tigers won their first ever Singapore Cup on 7 November 2014.^[5]

Seasons

As Balestier Central / Balestier Khalsa

As Clementi Khalsa

• The 1996 season of the S.League was split into two series. Tiger Beer Series winners Geylang United defeated Pioneer Series winners Singapore Armed Forces in the Championship play-off to clinch the S.League title.
• 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.

Sponsors

• Main Sponsors: Civic Ambulance, FTMS Global
• Kit Supplier: Umbro

Honours

Domestic

Cup

• Singapore Cup: 1

• 2014

• Singapore League Cup: 1

• 2013

• Singapore League Cup Plate Tournament: 1

• 2012

• President's Cup: 1

• 1992

• FAS Challenge Cup: 1

• 1958

Performance in AFC competitions

• AFC Cup

2015: Group Stage

2016: Group stage

Players

Current Squad

As of 11 March 2016 ^[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Daniel Ong 2 DF Fadli Kamis 3 DF Hanafi Salleh 4 DF Emir Lotinac 5 MF Shah Hirul 6 DF Nurullah Hussein 7 FW Zulkiffli Hassim 9 FW Niko Tokić 11 FW Miroslav Krištić 12 DF Sheikh Abdul Hadi 13 MF Jamil Ali

No. Position Player 14 MF Fazli Ayob 15 FW Fadhil Noh 17 FW Syafiq Zainal 18 DF Ahmad Syahir Sahimi 19 GK Zaiful Nizam (Captain) 20 DF Ho Wai Loon 21 FW Daniel Tan 22 GK Ameerul Shafiq 23 MF Danial Mazlan 24 MF Hazzuwan Halim 25 DF Gary Loo

Prime League Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 26 MF Syafiq Irawan 27 MF Sadin Smajović 28 DF Syahfuddin Eska 29 MF Daniel Jaafaran 30 DF Shah Zulkarnean 31 Danial Salem 32 DF Hakeem Amran 33 MF Zulkhair Mustaffa 34 DF Syarifuddin Suhaimi 35 Irfan Rosley

No. Position Player 36 Tan Yee Heng 37 Anirhan Jumadi 38 DF K Krishnan 40 A Renonathan 41 Khairul Nizam 42 Nasrullah Noor 43 Fauzi Zainuddin 44 MF Asshukrie Wahid 45 MF Zaid Hussain

Managers

• Bogdan Brasoveanu (2001–02, 2003–04)
• Jang Jung (Jan 2004 – Dec 05)
• Abdul Karim Razzak (Jan 2005 – Dec 07)
• Nasaruddin Jalil (Jan 2008 – Dec 10)
• Salim Moin (Jan 2011 – Dec 11)
• Darren Stewart (Jan 2012 – Dec 13)
• Marko Kraljević (Jan 2014–present)

References

External links

• Official club website
• S.League website page on Balestier Khalsa FC