Forrest Li is in, Bernard Tan is out.
Tech billionaire Li has taken the top job at the Football Association of Singapore following the extraordinary congress held on 28 April at Raffles Town Club.
The 47-year-old founder of Sea Group, the company behind Shopee and Garena, will lead Singapore football until 2029.
Lawyer and BG Tampines chairman Desmond Ong will serve as his deputy.
The leadership team also includes four vice-presidents: Hougang United chairman Bill Ng, national captain Hariss Harun, Lion City Sailors general manager Tan Li Yu, and Burnley FC’s chief of staff Sean Bai.
In his first speech, Li laid out his vision, to rebuild Singapore football from the ground up.
“We must be bold to make changes. Some projects will work, others will fail,” he said.
“We will learn from each failure, pivot where we need to, and celebrate every success. Most importantly, we will keep pushing forward,” he said.
His five key pillars for transformation are: infrastructure, youth development, partnerships, league competitiveness, and administrative effectiveness.
Also elected to the council were Sailors executive Bruce Liang, Tasek Academy’s Arivan Shanmugaratnam, and St Joseph’s Institution International chairman Roy Quek.
The six individual council seats went to ex-national players Aleksandar Duric and Aide Iskandar, FAS medical committee head Dinesh Nair, Katong FC manager Andy Tan, SingaBrigade leader Syed Faris, and Sailors women’s head coach Yeong Sheau Shyan.
Li is no stranger to the local football scene.
In 2020, he privatised Home United and launched Lion City Sailors.
Under his leadership, the club built a $10 million training facility at Mattar Road.
When asked by The Straits Times if he would invest his own money into FAS, Li replied he first wanted to “understand how the cash flows work.”
While no immediate projects were announced, Li made clear his focus on youth development.
“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,” he said.
“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,” he said.
PHOTO: FAS
