1997 S.League
# 1997 S.League

The 1997 S.League was the 2nd season of the S.League, the top professional football league in Singapore. The format of the league was changed, a single season of home and away matches replacing the split seasons and a playoff model of the 1996 season.

The 1997 S.League championship was won by Singapore Armed Forces FC.

## Teams

Police Football Club underwent a rebranding, being renamed as Home United while NFL side Jurong Town Football Club, who renamed themselves Jurong FC, joined the competition taking the number of participating clubs to 9. As a result of the construction of the new Jurong East Stadium being incomplete, Jurong FC used Bukit Gombak Stadium as their home ground for the 1997 S.League season.

| Team | Stadium | Capacity | Location |
| - | - | - | - |
| Balestier Central | Toa Payoh Stadium | 3,900 | Toa Payoh |
| Geylang United | Bedok Stadium | 3,900 | Bedok |
| Jurong | Bukit Gombak Stadium | 3,000 | Bukit Batok |
| Home United | Jalan Besar Stadium | 8,000 | Kallang |
| Singapore Armed Forces | Jurong Stadium | 6,000 | Jurong |
| Sembawang Rangers | Yishun Stadium | 3,400 | Yishun |
| Tampines Rovers | Tampines Stadium | 3,600 | Tampines |
| Tiong Bahru United | Queenstown Stadium | 3,800 | Queenstown |
| Woodlands Wellington | Woodlands Stadium | 4,300 | Woodlands |

## Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Balestier Central | Goran Paulić | Marko Kraljević | Bojan Hodak | None | None |
| Geylang United | Hamid Reza Estili | Mohsen Garousi | Warren Spink | Martin Tierney | None |
| Home United | Egmar Goncalves | Fabio da Silva | Zsolt Bucs | None | None |
| Jurong FC | Musah Edoe | Tanko Tetumah | Alan McTurk | None | None |
| Singapore Armed Forces | Ivica Raguž | Jure Ereš | Velimir Crljen | Davor Mioč | None |
| Sembawang Rangers | Zlatko Vidan | Milomir Šešlija | Ousmane N'Diaye | Ignacio Tuhuteru | Gary Blissett |
| Tampines Rovers | Scott O'Donell | Chris Jackson | None | None | None |
| Tiong Bahru United | Nicodeme Boucher | Dragan Talajić | Émile Mbouh | Håkan Söderstjerna | None |
| Woodlands Wellington | Jan Janostak | Stuart Young | Max Nicholson | None | None |

## Final table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Singapore Armed Forces | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 42 | 11 | +31 | 37 | Qualification to Asian Club Championship first round |
| 2 | Tiong Bahru United | 16 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 33 | 16 | +17 | 34 | |
| 3 | Woodlands Wellington | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 35 | 29 | +6 | 33 | |
| 4 | Balestier Central | 16 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 43 | 26 | +17 | 28 | |
| 5 | Geylang United | 16 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 23 | 18 | +5 | 25 | |
| 6 | Tampines Rovers | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 38 | −16 | 15 | |
| 7 | Jurong FC | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 33 | −18 | 15 | |
| 8 | Sembawang Rangers | 16 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 37 | −18 | 8 | |
| 9 | Home United | 16 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 41 | −24 | 7 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Name | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Goran Paulić | Balestier Central | 21 |
| 2 | Egmar Goncalves | Home United | 15 |
| 3 | Jure Ereš | Singapore Armed Forces | 14 |
