SINGAPORE (21 June 2021) – The 2021 AIA Singapore Premier League (SPL) season will restart on 17 July.
This follows the release of the remaining fixtures of the 2021 AIA SPL season by the FA of Singapore (FAS) with Tanjong Pagar United FC taking on the Young Lions in the first match of the restart.
The match is a replay of the fixture from matchday 9 that was abandoned due to inclement weather.
The current SPL season took a break after 23 May for the FIFA international window and was slated to resume on 2 July.
However, following consultations with clubs, the fixtures have since been rescheduled to allow clubs to have at least two weeks of preparation time with their respective players who were called up for international duty.
These players were required to serve a Stay Home Notice upon their return to Singapore, which ends on 4 July.
This latest schedule will also allow for the league table to be balanced at the earliest possible opportunity, with all teams having played the same number of matches.
This will be achieved after the final match of matchday 12, which will see all teams having played a total of 12 matches each.
In addition, the changes were made in mind to cause minimal disruption to the league schedule as a result of Tampines Rovers FC’s involvement in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League 2021 (East) Group Stage from 25 June to 10 July in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
As of the time of this release, only one League match involving Tampines Rovers has been rescheduled – their fixture against Lion City Sailors FC (from 11 July to 4 August).
Singapore Cup 2021 to be cancelled as rearranged schedule incorporates Stay Home Notice period for National Team players & Tampines Rovers FC’s continental commitments
With the changes, the 2021 SPL season is projected to conclude on 2 October instead of 11 September as originally envisaged.
Given the later completion date of the SPL, the Singapore Cup 2021 will be cancelled to ensure the Singapore Under-22 and also the Lions can adequately prepare for their respective competitions – including the AFC Under-23 Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers, 2021 Southeast Asian Games, and the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup.
Status of fan re-entry
In light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation, all SPL matches will continue to be played behind closed doors, as has been the stance since 8 May.
However, the FAS will continue to monitor prevailing measures in place and will decide the conditions for re-entry of SPL fans into match venues closer to the League’s resumption date.
SPL fans will be able to watch every match LIVE on broadcast at Singtel TV, StarHub TV and live streaming online via the SPL Facebook page and YouTube channel, as well as the Facebook Play Sports.
Taking into account the fluid nature of the current situation regarding the AFC Cup fixtures, further changes may be expected to the SPL fixture schedule.
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