Diogo Costa and Shah Shahiran facing off last season
Lion City Sailors and BG Tampines Rovers – the top two sides in last season’s Singapore Premier League (SPL) and also Singapore Cup finalists – will renew their heated rivalry on 16 August 2025 in the league’s traditional curtain-raiser, the Community Shield.
The Sailors swept all domestic honours last campaign – including the Community Shield, where they beat Albirex Niigata (S) 2-0 – and will be intent on kicking off their campaign in winning fashion again to set the tone for a shot at another all-conquering season.
Lion City Sailors lifting the SPL trophy last season
Sailors’ Head Coach Aleksandar Rankovic is under no illusions about the task at hand.
“To do that again is going to be incredibly difficult because all football teams have a huge challenge of replicating that success in the following year,” the Serb said. “Our main goal is to compete domestically and to try to win trophies, but it’s not going to be easy because the league is stronger and everybody wants to beat you.”
Aleksandar Rankovic taking training during pre-season. (Photo courtesy of Lion City Sailors)
One team that has surely stuck a target firmly on the Sailors’ back are the Stags, the 2024/25 league and Cup runners-up who will be eager to exact revenge with a win in the one-off fixture.
There will be a change in the BG Tampines dugout, with returning manager Akbar Nawas taking charge following former Head Coach Gavin Lee’s departure at the end of last season.
And Akbar has laid out the season’s objectives in no uncertain terms.
Akbar Nawas observing training during pre-season. (Photo courtesy of BG Tampines Rovers)
“Our aim is to close the gap on the teams with better quality and deeper squads, while helping our new signings adapt quickly to our system,” said the 49-year-old.
“The league has changed with the increase in foreign player slots, so the challenge is bigger, but my focus is on building a competitive and united team.”
The Stags have strengthened their squad with nine signings to date, including Malta international winger Trent Buhagiar, Singapore international Jacob Mahler from Muangthong United and four Japanese players Takeshi Yoshimoto (Ryukyu Okinawa), Koya Kazama (JEF United Chiba), Seiga Sumi (Fagiano Okayama) and Hide Higashikawa (Tochigi City).
BG Tampines Rovers training during pre-season. (Photo courtesy of BG Tampines Rovers)
“The players recruited bring different strengths compared to last season’s squad. This season, we want to add more dimensions to our play. We’ll still aim to control games when possible, but we also want the ability to defend compactly and attack with speed when the moment is right. The best teams in the world adapt to different game situations, and we want to have that versatility,” said Akbar of his transfer market objectives.
Meanwhile, the Sailors have underlined their intent in the transfer market with the coup of two-time J1 top-scorer Anderson Lopes from Yokohama F. Marinos, alongside veteran Lions’ defender Safuwan Baharudin, Croatian goalkeeper Ivan Susak from Slaven Belupo and former German Under-20 midfielder Tsiy Ndenge from Swiss Super League side Grasshopper Club Zurich.
Anderson Lopes in training during pre-season. (Photo courtesy of Lion City Sailors)
But unlike his counterpart, Rankovic downplayed talk about major changes to his all-conquering squad.
“We let go of six players and brought in four, so you can’t really talk about big changes,” he said. “It would be very challenging competing on four fronts, but in the pre-season, everybody is highly motivated and wants to prove themselves,” he said, hinting at an underlying optimism.
However, with a new-look BG Tampines and a new face at the helm, Rankovic remained wary.
“They had their pre-season, but we weren’t able to watch those matches. So this will be the first time I’m facing them under a new coach, so we’ll see what they bring to the table.”
Where both Rankovic and Akbar are in agreement is in the value of the pre-season test that is the Community Shield.
“It’s an important match for us, but also a good test to see where we stand against one of the strongest teams in the league. Winning it would give us confidence, but more importantly, it will show us the areas we need to improve on to be competitive across the whole season,” Akbar said.
With both teams looking to push each other all the way in the race for silverware again this season, this opening clash between the title contenders promises to give us an early glimpse into their season-long rivalry.
The Community Shield clash kicks off at the Jurong East Stadium at 8pm. The match will be broadcasted live on Singtel TV and StarHub TV, as well as live streamed via Mediacorp’s meWATCH platform and the SPL YouTube channel.
