Newly installed FAS president Forrest Li wants to focus on youth

SINGAPORE – Forrest Li was installed as the

new Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president until 2029

on April 28.

At the FAS extraordinary congress at the Raffles Town Club, Li’s slate that formed the council included lawyer and current BG Tampines Rovers chairman Desmond Ong (deputy president).

There are also four vice-presidents: Bill Ng, founder of private equity firm Financial Frontiers and chairman of Hougang United and Tiong Bahru FC; national captain Hariss Harun; Lion City Sailors general manager Tan Li Yu; and Sean Bai, chief of staff at Burnley, who have recently been promoted to the English Premier League.

Three council members were also elected en bloc with the rest of the slate by 29 of the 37 ordinary members – Bruce Liang, head of strategic projects at Sea Group and SeaMoney and executive director of the Sailors; Arivan Shanmugaratnam, a lead manager at Tasek Academy and Social Services; and Roy Quek, chairman of St Joseph’s Institution International.

In his first speech as president, Li highlighted a multi-pronged approach to “improve things at grassroots and professional levels” within Singapore football.

He said: “We will focus on building up the fundamentals of a healthy football ecosystem in five areas: infrastructure, youth development, partnerships, league competitiveness and administrative effectiveness.

“To achieve all of this, we must be bold to make changes. Some projects will work, others will fail. We will learn from each failure, pivot where we need to and celebrate every success. Most importantly, we will keep pushing forward.

“In business, and in football, no one has a crystal ball. We can only do our best to do what we think is right and try our hardest on the field. Even if you’re really good, you can lose. And even when you’re an underdog, you can overcome the odds to win.”

The six remaining individual seats on the council went to former national forward Aleksandar Duric; ex-Lions captain Aide Iskandar; FAS medical committee chairman Dinesh Nair; Andy Tan, manager at Singapore Football League Division One side Katong FC; Syed Faris, leader of the Lions’ die-hard fan group SingaBrigade; and Yeong Sheau Shyan, the Sailors’ head of women’s football.

Yeong was automatically inculcated as part of the new team as the FAS council must include at least one female.

Independent candidate James Lim, former chairman of Island Wide League side Woodlands Rangers, who contested in the 2017 FAS elections, was not elected.

Li, the founder of home-grown tech firm Sea Limited, reportedly has a net worth of US$8.6 billion (S$11.3 billion). He was

third among Singapore’s richest

in Forbes’ annual list of global billionaires released on April 1.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed Sea owns e-commerce platform Shopee and also operates businesses in gaming and digital finance.

Later at a door-stop interview, when asked if he would inject his own funds into the association, Li said: “At this moment, I don’t know how the cash would flow in and out of FAS, I will (want to) have a better understanding on that first.”

The China-born 47-year-old is a naturalised Singapore citizen and is no stranger to local football.

In 2016, Garena, which is the digital entertainment arm of parent company Sea, inked a $4 million, two-year deal with Singapore Premier League side Young Lions. The partnership included a $2 million cash sponsorship, with an additional $2 million for developmental programmes for the squad.

In 2019, Li joined the Home United management committee before taking over the club and privatising them as the Sailors in 2020. He also served as an FAS council member from 2017 to 2021.

Under Li’s leadership, the Sailors have also

established a $10 million training centre

– a 28,000 sq m facility along Mattar Road – in 2022 as part of a “commitment to revitalise local football”.

While Li has no specific projects in mind that he plans to take on, he hopes to focus the team’s efforts on youth football.

He added: “All Singaporeans really care about Singapore football. People want the national team and our youth players to do well in all levels of different competition.

“This will be our primary focus. We hope over time, there will be more kids after school, just rather than spending time in tuition centres, (they) can get in the sun and come to the pitch and enjoy playing football.

“And there might be a higher chance we can have our own (Cristiano) Ronaldo or (Lionel) Messi from those kids many, many years down the road.”

Li also expressed his thanks to the outgoing council for their stewardship in the last four years.

Former president Bernard Tan said in his exit speech: “Every decision taken by the team was made in the best interest of Singapore.

“Taking Singapore football forward, mistakes will inevitably remain in our game. We need to correct them and not revisit them ever again.

“It has been a great privilege to have served the Football Association of Singapore.”