SINGAPORE, 4 MARCH 2024 – The JSSL Singapore Professional Academy 7s will celebrate its 10th anniversary in style with its biggest edition yet. Asia’s largest youth football tournament is set to welcome the greatest number of teams in history – a record 500 registered teams from 16 nations will participate in the March 28-31 event held across five venues in Singapore. All teams will also get to play more matches and enjoy increased game time this year. Defending champions in both the boy’s and girls’ Pro categories Valencia CF will return to defend their crown, but they face fierce competition along the way from teams hailing from all over the world including Portugal, Spain, Australia, Japan and Thailand.
The pro teams competing in this year’s tournament are:
The JSSL Singapore Professional Academy 7s is Asia’s Premier Youth Football competition which
showcases the young talent of over 500 registered teams from all over the world. It has played a key
part in the youth careers of many pro footballers having seen the likes of Liverpool rising star Harvey
Elliott (Fulham FC, 2017) and Nottingham Forest forward Anthony Elanga (Manchester United, 2018)
competing in the professional category.
Over the last nine years, the JSSL Singapore Professional Academy 7s has grown from strength to
strength, starting from having just 560 players and 40 teams in one venue back in 2013 to this year’s
500 registered teams competing in matches played at five venues: HQ Arena, SAFRA Tampines, The
Lion City Sailors Training Centre, the Singapore University of Technology and Design as well as Hougang
Stadium.
Promising youth footballers aged six to 16 from around the world will take part in the tournament,
which comprises four girls’ and 11 boys’ age groups. Teams are divided into groups of seven/eight
teams, where all teams play each other once. Following that, the top four teams of the group will
qualify for “Cup Knock Out”, while the remaining teams in the group will qualify for the “Plate Knock
Out” stages. The tournament is played under all applicable FIFA rules. All matches are 25 minutes each
with no half-time. All finals will be played at HQ Arena in Woodleigh on Sunday (March 31) with Guest-
of-Honour and former Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy present to hand out the trophies.
Rina Salleh, JSSL General Manager, said: “In addition to celebrating our 10th anniversary, this year’s
JSSL Singapore Professional Academy 7s will be the best edition yet. With a record number of teams
entering the tournament, we are pleased so many budding footballers from Singapore and around the
globe take their first steps in their football journey with us. That is a strong testament to the popularity
of our event and Singapore as a youth football hub for Asia. We would like to thank everyone for their
support over the last 10 years especially Singapore Tourism Board. It is our aim to continue providing
passionate young footballers with this avenue to play a sport they love for many years to come. Having
more teams and increased game time for the players will give them the chance to make more friends
and gain more experience as they progress in and beyond their youth careers.”
More information about the tournament and its format is available at https://jssl-
singapore7s.com/tournament-info.
About JSSL Singapore
As Singapore’s Premier Youth Football Club & League Provider, we offer young boys and girls the
opportunity to explore football at all levels in a safe environment through a dedicated and passionate
team of coaches and the most professional and No 1 Youth Leagues in Singapore. The various
developmental programmes that JSSL Football Club offers aims to provide every player with a unique
footballing experience as well as developing the person/individual behind the player.
Credit:JSSL Singapore Professional Academy 7s