‘Bring back joy and pride’: Shopee founder and Sailors chairman Forrest Li aims to lead Singapore football’s revival as FAS president

‘Bring back joy and pride’: Shopee founder and Sailors chairman Forrest Li aims to lead Singapore football’s revival as FAS president

SINGAPORE, April 18 – Tech billionaire Forrest Li, who is set to be the next Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president, has reportedly pledged to restore pride and joy to Singapore football.

Li, founder of Garena and Shopee-owner Sea Ltd and chairman of Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors, was unopposed for the 2025-2029 council race.

“Football is more than just a sport. It is a powerful force for uplifting and uniting communities. A hard-fought win, an incredible goal: these are common memories that communities can cherish, feel pride in, and talk about for years, even decades.

“As council president, my mission will be to bring that joy and pride back to Singapore football,” he reportedly told The Straits Times.

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Li’s group is set to include Tampines Rovers chairman Desmond Ong as deputy president; and Bill Ng, national captain Hariss Harun, Sailors general manager Tan Li Yu, and Sean Bai, chief of staff at Burnley FC as vice-presidents.

Also on the nine-member slate are Bruce Liang from Sea Group, Tasek Academy’s Arivan Shanmugaratnam, and Roy Quek, chairman of St Joseph’s Institution International.

They will be officially sworn in at an extraordinary congress on April 28 at Raffles Town Club.

An initial challenge by former Balestier Khalsa vice-chairman Darwin Jalil was derailed after his team was disqualified over an ineligible candidate, prompting him to seek intervention from Fifa.

The remaining six individual council seats will be contested by seven candidates, including six backed by Team One and independent candidate James Lim, a former Woodlands Rangers chairman.

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Yeong Sheau Shyan, head of women’s football at the Sailors, will automatically join the council as it must include at least one woman.

Sea Ltd was formerly known as Garena, the publisher of the popular video game Free Fire. It also owns online shopping platform Shopee, and had bought over Sailors — formerly the Home United — in 2020.

Li has been influential as Sailors chairman, with the club reaching the final of the AFC Champions League Two this week, and winning the SPL title in 2021 and Singapore Cup in 2023.

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