Singapore Cup 2021 cancelled as rearranged schedule incorporates Stay Home Notice for National Team Players and Tampines Rovers' Continental Commitments
Image credit: SPL Facebook
The Singapore Premier League season will resume on Saturday, 17 July 2021, a statement from the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) has confirmed.
The FAS has also released the updated fixtures for the remainder of the 2021 AIA Singapore Premier League season, which will see the first fixture of Game Week 12 pitting Tanjong Pagar United FC against the Young Lions, a replay of the fixture from Game Week 9 that was abandoned due to inclement weather.
Given the later completion date of the League, the Singapore Cup 2021 has been cancelled to facilitate adequate preparation for the Singapore Under-22 side and the senior Lions squad, with the former being involved in AFC Under-23 Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers and 2021 Southeast Asian Games, while the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup looms large for the latter.
The remainder of the statement released by the FAS read:
The current SPL season took a break after the final two matches of Game Week 11 on 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 with the Men’s National Team.
Image credit: SPL Facebook
These players are required to serve a Stay Home Notice (SHN) 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 Game Week 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).