FAS elections set for April 28
Polls take on added significance due to Unleash the Roar national project
The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) yesterday announced that its elections will take place on April 28 at Orchard Hotel.
The polls have taken on added significance, as the winning slate will be tasked with overseeing the start of the Unleash the Roar project - a national initiative announced in Parliament last week that aims to uplift the standard of Singapore football.
It has also set the "aspirational" target of qualifying for the World Cup in 2034.
The elections will be decided by the FAS' 40 ordinary members, should they have fulfilled all membership requirements as of yesterday. The polls will be broadcast on the FAS' YouTube channel.
Prospective candidates must submit their nomination forms by March 29. The list of successful candidates will be announced on April 18.
The next batch of FAS office- bearers will comprise a slate of nine - a president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and three council members - as well as a further six council members who are elected individually.
The incumbent president Lim Kia Tong's four-year term ends on April 28.
The 68-year-old lawyer told the media earlier this month that he will seek re-election, saying he had a "very strong passion to serve Singapore football and to make sure it grows to at least some stable, reputable extent".
He added that he is "humbled and heartened to know that a very big proportion of the football fraternity" have given him their support.
However, The Straits Times reported this month that a slate of individuals associated with the amateur football scene are weighing up a contest for the FAS leadership.
The 2017 elections, which were contested by slates led by Lim and Hougang United chairman Bill Ng, were the first where affiliates elected the FAS leadership.
Previous office-bearers were put in place by the Government, until this system was found to infringe football governing body Fifa's regulations in 2015.
The last elections took place under the extraordinary backdrop of a police raid at FAS' headquarters. They arrested Ng, his wife Bonnie, ex-FAS president Zainudin Nordin, and then-FAS general secretary Winston Lee over the suspected misuse of funds at Tiong Bahru Football Club.
They were subsequently released and no charges have since been filed.
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