SINGAPORE: The Lion City Sailors on Saturday (May 10) evening lifted the 2024-25 Singapore Premier League (SPL) title with two games remaining after Maxime Lestienne bagged the winner at bottom side Tanjong Pagar.
The Sailors came into the game knowing that a victory would seal their second league title under owner Forrest Li, the billionaire founder of tech giant Sea and the new Football Association of Singapore president.
A first-half penalty by Belgian winger Lestienne settled any nerves early and the Sailors saw out the rest of the game for a 1-0 win with a tally of 71 points, ensuring that they cannot be caught by second-placed Tampines Rovers, who trail by eight points, this season.
The team, who had finished runners-up in the past two SPL seasons to Albirex Niigata, celebrated in front of the away fans at Jurong East Stadium with chants of “Campeones, ole, ole ole” in a video posted on their Facebook account.
With the SPL title in tow, attention now turns to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League Two final against Sharjah FC of the United Arab Emirates on May 18, where the Sailors have the opportunity to seal a historic double by becoming the first Singaporean club to win the continental competition.
The continent’s football body has granted the Sailors provisional approval to stage the game at Bishan Stadium and the club has said that works are ongoing to increase its capacity to 10,000 spectators.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the Sailors confirmed that tickets to the final were sold out, just one day after they had gone on sale.
The Sailors made history on Apr 16 after beating Australian side Sydney FC 2-1 on aggregate to become the first Singaporean football team to reach the final of a continental competition.
The Sailors, as the newly-crowned SPL winners, have again qualified for next season’s AFC Champions League Two tournament.
