2018 Singapore Premier League
| Season | 2018 |
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← 2017
2019 →
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The 2018 Singapore Premier League (also known as the Great Eastern Hyundai Singapore Premier League) is the 23rd season of the Singapore Premier League, the top-flight Singaporean professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996. The season begins on 31 March 2018, and is scheduled to conclude in October 2018. Albirex Niigata (S) are the defending champions.
Each team will receive $888,200 if they meet key performance indicators that will be made known to them before the March 31 kick-off. This represents a "19 per cent reduction from the 2017 season", but funding for the league has been secured for the next five years.
It is the league's first season after rebranding from the S.League to the Singapore Premier League. A major overhaul from the new FAS management is being made from this season onwards to improve the standard of Singapore football.
An emphasis on youth development from the ground up is underway.
The following key changes are being made to the rules for the 2018 season:
A total of 9 teams compete in the league. Albirex Niigata (S) and DPMM FC are invited foreign clubs from Japan and Brunei respectively. Despite large criticism and discussion against the Young Lions project, the Young Lions will continue to compete till 2019 for the purposes of training and preparing for the 2019 SEA Games. The criticism mainly focused on the poor performances every season by the largely youth team made up of Singapore Football's brightest prospects. Season-long consecutive losses against the rest of the more mature teams inflicts serious long-term consequences on the morale of the players, considering that most of these players are in the developmental ages of their footballing career. The new age restrictions imposed on the rest of the Singapore Premier League clubs could be seen as giving the Young Lions a better advantage in terms of seniority, but most critics and fans of Singapore football are still wanting the FAS to abolish the FAS-managed Young Lions and have them developed under the guidance of genuine local clubs.
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