Balestier Khalsa Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club based in Toa Payoh, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League. Founded in 1898, the club is considered as the oldest football club in the country. The club have won the Singapore Cup, Singapore League Cup and the Singapore FA Cup once.
Fathul Karib is best remembered for providing nine players to the Singapore National Team for the Asian Games in the year 1958. In its heyday, the club was almost synonymous with soccer in Singapore. The Club built up its strong support base not only from the Toa Payoh \/ Balestier area but from all over Singapore. It was truly a National Team.
On account of re-organisation and by the country's soccer administrators, Fathul Karib changed its name to Balestier United Recreation Club in April 1975. <\/P>
It's long tradition of good football and links with the community continued. Balestier groomed several outstanding players, notably Majid Ariff and Johan, all of whom originated from the Balestier Central area.<\/P>
Majid is the only Singaporean to be selected for the Asian All-Stars in the 60's when Asia produced a wealth of gifted players from the Far East, South Asia and the Middle East.<\/P>
In the '70s, several other names hit the billboards, and they included Hashim Sellah, S.Rajagopal, Dollah Kassim, Samad Abdullah, and Jita Singh. <\/P>
The Club participated in all League and President's Cup matches, including the Under-16 and Under-19 Youth Tournaments.<\/P>
It was from these youths that the club drew its talents to serve on the team - one of the few clubs to do so.<\/P>
Current Club Vice-Chairman S Thavaneson, then 39-years-old, took over Balestier United Recreation Club in 1979. Over the next eight years, he led the Club, whose track record fluctuated between NFL Divisions Two and Three, to Premier League status.<\/P>
In 1987, the Club was selected among thirty clubs in the National Football League to be one of eight to compete in the semi-professional FAS Premier League in 1988. The Club has managed to maintain its Premier League status throughout the competition since its inception.<\/P>
In its inaugural year in 1988, the club emerged as runners-up in the Premier League. It finished third in the League for the years from 1989 to 1992. In an end-of-the year clash, in 1992, the club took the President's Cup by beating Geylang International in a thrilling and entertaining 3-2 win at the National Stadium. These successes explain the huge fan base in the Central region. Not surprisingly, the club has always enjoyed the presence of big crowds at its matches.<\/P>
Well-known local national players to play for Balestier United were former national skipper Thambiayah Pathmanathan, Mohd Khairi Ismail, Hussein Ayob, Ishak Saad, Manap Hamat, Husaini Manaf, Rajagopal Suriamurthi, Hazali Nasiron, Hasnim Haron (later went on to sign for Malaysian state Johor in 1994), Zulkifli Kartoyoho, Nasir brothers Amin and Nazri, Jalil brothers Nasir (nicknamed Crazyhorse) and Nasaruddin (current Prime League Coach), Jamaludian Hassan, Yusman Yusof, Tahir Bujang and Abdullah Noor.<\/P>
Malaysian international stars Dollah Salleh, Zainal Abidin Hassan and Khan Hung Meng also turned out for the Toa Payoh based club in 1988. A year later, Yugoslavs Josko Spanjic and Boris Lucic became the first foreign imports to play for Singapore in the Malaysian League.<\/P>
Balestier United Recreation Club changed its name to Balestier Central Football Club in 1996 when it participated in the professional S-League. The club signed talented foreign players like Esad Sedjic, the first scorer in the S-League history in 1996 and Ljutvo Bogucanin from Yugoslavia, Marko Kraljevic and Paulic Goran from Croatia, and Nathaniel Klay Naplah from Liberia. In the following years, the club recruited Iranian Alireza Mansourian, Croatian Bojan Hodak, Australian Darren Stewart, Scottish Jason Ainsley and Brazilian Fabio da Silva.<\/P>
Former National Coach Robin Chan was the S-League Coach from 1996 and 1997, and then returned in 2002. In between, current FAS Technical Director PN Sivaji took over the coaching post from 1998 to 2001, the longest serving coach at one club in the history of the S-League. <\/P>
In October 2002, Balestier Central Football Club changed its name to incorporate Clementi Khalsa Football Club and became Balestier Khalsa Football Club.<\/P>
Certified Public Accountant Balbeer Singh Mangat is the Club Chairman and has the vision of doing things differently.<\/P>
Balestier's first and only foreign coach officially announced was 1994 M-League and Malaysia Cup Double winner Jang Jung from South Korea. Jang Jung took over in April 2003 from ex-club captain Abdullah Noor. However, he lasted only one year and three months before Abdul Karim Razzak took over as caretaker. <\/P>
On 19 October 2005, Balestier officially announced Abdul Karim as its Head Coach of the Club. This after AFC sent an official email to FAS indicating Karim has passed his AFC 'A' Licence, a minimum requirement to coach an S-League team. Karim had spent one month in Wuhan, China back in June 2005 taking his AFC 'A' Coaching Licence. Balestier Khalsa finished seventh in the S-League, its best finish since change of name two seasons ago.<\/P>
S-League 2006 should prove to be an even better year for Balestier Khalsa Football Club as the Club has retained almost half of the team from 2005. The Club has targeted a top-six finish.<\/P>","A1A3C2B16933D2932CAA0F59CAFD2D37A7D990F044C6143D":"1898-10-10","EC5D596A5D80446F935E9C751DEF66E8":"","D21B7B52C3154356":"1","0D34E6C50E8B5F692E33A5A7830475C3":"Peter de Roo","6F57BC549B91E4F9B6527BF7F4BF203F":"","9313EC01B36593E9":"2062093","2AC3E7C85928CE18A3090AFF171DB8C9":"2022-11-29","2CED97379BA5D88CE40611752FB01FA2":"","3316B2DB0B85B0BE":"Balestier Khalsa FC","7850BFBCDDAACDE9":"Balestier Khalsa FC","435426036942DBEA7AAF62FDF12D923A":"Toa Payoh Stadium","DF1F83E13127F6C1":"Peter de Roo","e_index":4};