Beginnings and breakthrough (1973–1995) Formally founded by
Colin Ng in 1973 during a dinner gathering with
Arshad Khamis,
Gulam Mohamed and
Omar Ashiblie, Ng planned to build one of the successful club in Singapore. They were soon known as
International Contract Specialists Football Club (ICS) and played its first friendly match against
Rollel, a Singapore Business Houses Football League (SBHFL) Division One league club on 15 November 1973 with a 2–0 win. They made their season debut in 1974, walking away with 2 titles – FAS Division Three League & President's Cup with no losses. This was not too difficult for them as they had several star players and well-known footballers among their ranks. With the likes of
Arshad Khamis,
Dollah Kassim,
Gulam Mohamed,
Samad Allapitchay,
Kamal Mohd Nor and
Robert Sim, they had a formidable side that receives the respect from oppositions. The team coached by The Yap Brothers, Sebastian and Andrew were no stranger to
Football Association of Singapore.
Name changed For the new season, in line with the
Football Association of Singapore plans to streamline footballs and have teams on geographical consideration for the Division One League, ICS changed its name to
Geylang International as their home ground was based at Geylang Field, Lorong 12. In 1975, they entered the
National Football League Division One and won it before adding another title in 1976. Their back to back victory was made sweeter by winning the 1976 President's Cup. A relegation in 1981 prompted the arrival of a new management committee that guided the club back to the top division in 1983. In 1984, club president Kasim Chik financed the club and businessman Patrick Ang, who joined in 1986, managed to secure sponsors for them. Despite being relegated that year, they returned to Division 1 of the
National Football League the following season and the golden era began. In 1988, the FAS started a semi-professional league competition called the
FAS Premier League as the top tier of the Singapore football league structure. they dominated all eight years of the league, winning six consecutive titles from 1988 to 1993 before finishing third in 1994 and second in 1995. Every game would see their home ground packed to the brim as fans clamoured to catch a game of the Eagles’ skilful players. Subsequently, due to the huge fan following which numbered in the thousands, all their games had to be played either in
Jalan Besar Stadium or
National Stadium. The success behind winning the
FAS Premier League was also aided by the players they had. Notably players such as
Malek Awab,
Razali Saad,
Dollah Kassim,
Samad Allapitchay and Robert Sim all contributed to the success of the team. These were players who would also go on to represent the country. It might not be known widely by many but they even managed to attract one of the biggest European stars of that era to turn up in their club's colours. French forward and legend,
Michel Platini visited Singapore to attend a football clinic conducted by them and played half a game for the Eagles to highlight the club's attraction.
Progressive and golden era (1996–2012) As
Geylang United Football Club, they were one of the eight teams in the inaugural season of the
S.League in
1996. They won the first stage (the Tiger Beer Series) of the league season and finished fifth in the second stage (the Pioneer Series). They won the league after defeating
SAFFC (the Pioneer Series champions) 2–1 in the Championship Play-off. They completed the season with another trophy, beating the same team on penalties, 4–2, in the
Singapore FA Cup. As the team was full of international stars, led by 1998 Iranian World Cup head coach
Jalal Talebi, players such as
Fandi Ahmad,
Kadir Yahaya,
David Lee,
Hamid Reza Estili,
Mohammad Khakpour, and Chris Riley,
Vincent Subramaniam (Head Coach for SAFFC) identified them as the Manchester United of Singapore. As league champions, they qualified for the
1997–98 Asian Club Championship but were eliminated after losing 8–2 on aggregate by Japanese side
Kashima Antlers in the first round. The 1997 season was a disappointing season for them. They failed to defend the S.League title, finishing fifth. The Eagles also failed to defend the FA Cup, after losing to
SAFFC in the finals. They did not win any silverware till
2001, when they won their second league title by a close margin. Both forwards,
Aleksandar Đurić and
Brian Bothwell scored 57 goals for the team. It was the best performing S.League season for the team; scoring 84 goals and conceding 28 goals. Just days after winning the league title, they suffered their worst defeat in history; losing 8–0 to
Home United in the
Singapore Cup finals. As league champions, they were guaranteed a slot in the qualifying round of the
2002–03 AFC Champions League but were eliminated after losing to Chinese side
Shanghai Shenhua 5–1 on aggregate in the second round.
AFC Cup debut The 2002 season saw Geylang United finish third in both the S.League and Singapore Cup. They came close to winning their third
S.League title and first
Singapore Cup in 2003, only to finish runners-up to
Home United for both competitions. As runners-up, they qualified to play in the
AFC Cup 2004 due to
Home United's double. Their debut in the
AFC Cup 2004 was an impressive one. Despite losing their opening match, they managed to stay unbeaten for their next five games in the group stage. They went on to qualify for the quarter-finals, beating Malaysian club
Perak FA before losing to Syrian side
Al-Wahda in the semi-final. Geylang United won their first
Singapore Cup in 2009, beating Thailand side
Bangkok Glass 1–0 at the Jalan Besar Stadium. The win ensured them a place in the
2010 AFC Cup where they were placed in Group H alongside Vietnam
SHB Da Nang, Thailand club
Port and Hong Kong side
Tai Po. However, they failed to qualify for the knockout stages, finishing 3rd in the group stages with four draws and two losses. Weeks before the start of the 2012 season, Patrick Ang announced his retirement as club chairman. Ang, who had been with the club since 1986, moved up the ranks at the club as manager; vice-president; president and eventually chairman. He was given the nickname "Geylang's Godfather" after helping the club to gain main and co-sponsors. Former Singapore international,
Leong Kok Fann took over the position.
Mike Wong stepped down as coach after their 7–1 thrashing by Home United kept the club at the bottom of the league without a point. Under-21 coach, Vedhamuthu Kanan, swopped roles with Wong. Under the guidance of Kanan, the Eagles made it into the
League Cup finals; only to lose in the final to Brunei
DPMM. In the league itself, Kanan gave the U21 players the chance to be in the first team. It turned out to be a positive effort as some of these players who were given the chance to play in the S.League matches performed better than some of the first team players. They ended the season second from bottom in the nine-team table.
Decline in performances (2013–2016) Renamed as Geylang International On 4 January 2013, the club announced in a pre-season press conference that it would change its club logo and name back to
Geylang International Football Club. The club has set on a vision statement, playing philosophy and values like discipline and commitment to a six-week training routine planned for the players to follow meanwhile on the community outreach side, there will be a new partnership with
Singapore Management University [SMU] Mentorship Programme which includes opportunities to interact with the club players. A vision statement, playing philosophy and values like discipline and commitment have also been clearly set out, and a six-week training routine planned for the players to follow. They started off the season playing against Malaysian club
Johor Darul Ta'zim,
ATM FA and
Selangor losing 1–0, 2–1 and drawing 0–0 respectively. The Eagles than sign three Japanese trios,
Takuma Ito,
Norihiro Kawakami and
Shotaro Ihata however the squad saw plenty of long-term injury crisis, forcing their then-assistant coach, former Singapore international,
Mohd Noor Ali to come out of retirement. They finished the season in 9th place. On 19 August 2013, they face Hong Kong club,
Sun Source winning the match 5–0 at the
Bedok Stadium. The
2014 season was something to look out for as
Vedhamuthu Kanan flew to Argentina during the pre-season to look for new foreign players. It was later announced that
Leonel Felice,
Franco Chivilo and
Joaquin Lopez had signed a 1-year contract. In addition,
Nazareno Velez joined in as assistant coach. The Eagles started off their 2014 pre season friendlies participating in the
IFA Shield 2014 in India playing against
Kingfisher East Bengal,
United Sports Club and Korean
Sun Moon University at the
Salt Lake Stadium. However, the season did not start well as one of the Argentinian players failed to get their employment pass before the season kicked off. V. Kanan eventually got demoted back to coaching the U-21 team after 3 straight losses. German
Jörg Steinebrunner was than appointed as the new head coach 24 hours before their next match. Despite their poor
league performance, Steinebrunner almost led the team to the finals of League Cup and Singapore Cup; only to lose both domestic competitions on penalty shoot-outs. The team ended the 2014 season in eighth place. In 2015, Steinebrunner took this opportunity to get his own players ahead of the new season. The Eagles participated in the 2015 Kata Group Hotel Challenge Cup tournament in Thailand facing
Phuket winning 1–3 in the 1st leg and 2–1 in the 2nd leg. They then fly off to Indonesia to face
Semen Padang and
Felda United of Malaysia in a friendly match. The Eagles was inconsistent throughout the season, failing to win most of their matches. After their defeat in the semi-finals of the League Cup, they failed to collect any points for six consecutive games, remaining rooted to the bottom of the table for months. An unbeaten run in their last five matches with 3 wins and 2 draws allowed them to finish one place off the bottom.
New club chairman Weeks after the
2015 S.League season ended, it was announced that Ben Teng would replace Leong Kok Fann as club chairman. Ben Teng and his new management committee (comprising mainly Singaporeans who have worked in Dubai/Abu Dhabi previously) set about to revamp the club by recruiting young players from the disbanded
LionsXII and
Courts Young Lions, anchored by seasoned players such as
Daniel Bennett and
Indra Sahdan. Four players,
Hairul Syirhan,
Yuki Ichikawa,
Nor Azli Yusoff and
Shawal Anuar from the 2015 season were retained. In line with the club's philosophy of promoting young players from within, four
Prime League players were promoted to the senior team (one was subsequently released to Young Lions at the request of FAS). The new 2016 squad also featured returning former Geylang Prime League players such as
Stanely Ng,
Amy Recha and
Taufiq Ghani. Former Singapore international and championship winner with the 2001 Geylang team,
Hasrin Jailani, was appointed as head coach. His teammate from the 2001 winning team,
Mohd Noor Ali, was appointed as assistant head coach and Prime League coach. In its first S-League away match of the 2016 season against title favourites
Tampines Rovers, the Eagles recovered from an early 2–0 lead by the hosts to lead 2–3 before an 86th-minute equaliser by the hosts. Geylang International finished 5th out of the 9 teams competing in the 2016 S league.
Mohd Noor Ali era (2017–present) In June 2017,
Mohd Noor Ali took over as head coach of Geylang International, managing the team he had won the 2001 S league with as a player. The Eagles played their pre season friendlies against Malaysian club,
Johor Darul Ta'zim, Melaka United, and
Petaling Jaya Rangers before returning home to face Philippines club,
Ceres–Negros and Australian club,
Rydalmere Lions winning 3–1 in the process at the Bedok Stadium. The Eagles improved on their previous position and attained 4th position in the 2017 S league. It was Geylang International's first top four finish in 14 years In 2018,
Mohd Noor Ali went to abroad for a 1-year coaching stint with Japanese club
Matsumoto Yamaga (as part of Geylang International's collaboration with their sponsor
Epson). Noor Ali's venture abroad meant
Hirotaka Usui took charge of The Eagles for the inaugural 2018
Singapore Premier League. Geylang International finished a disappointing 8th position that season. In 2019,
Mohd Noor Ali returned to Geylang International after guiding Yamaga's “B” team to a league title.
Zikos Chua scored vital late goals during the season, as the resilient Eagles finished a commendable 5th place in the 2019
Singapore Premier League. The Eagles Ultras watched and cheered on the team to 10 wins out of 24 matches. That season, The Eagles also knocked out defending champions
Albirex Niigata (S) en route to finishing 3rd in the 2019 Singapore Cup. The Eagles beat the 2019 Singapore Premier League champions, Brunei DPMM, in the 3rd/4th placing match 12–11 on penalties, after the match ended 2–2. In 2022, the season will be remembered for Geylang's resilience to finish the season strong, after a slow start. After beating title favourites
Lion City Sailors 1–0 in their opening game, Geylang went on an 11-game winless run despite putting in commendable performances. The newly revamped Geylang squad for 2022, consisting of a new group of foreign players -
Vincent Bezecourt,
Šime Žužul,
Rio Sakuma,
Takahiro Tezuka had to find a way to get back to winning ways. When Round 2 and 3 of the
2022 Singapore Premier League came around, Geylang International picked up form, picking up 5 wins in 6 games. By beating the
Lion City Sailors 3–1 in the final round of matches (Round 4), and ending the season with a 1–1 draw with eventual champions
Albirex Niigata (S), Geylang International finished the season 4th, matching their 4th-place finish in 2020. As a result, the Eagles secured the second and final
AFC Cup berth. Geylang International started off the
2023 season in a Malaysia tour competing in the Harapan Cup in which they lost 4–0 to
Penang and 1–2 to
Kedah Darul Aman. The Eagles have a great record against their rivals,
Tampines Rovers getting 2 wins and 1 draw in the league match.
Striving under star studded striker In preparation for the inaugural two years league cycle
2024–25 season, Geylang International turned their attention towards Japanese national signing
Keito Hariya,
Ryoya Taniguchi, 2021 Singapore Premier League 'Player of the Year' winner,
Tomoyuki Doi and also loaning in youngster, Sora Tanaka from partnership club,
Matsumoto Yamaga. The Eagles also retained Japanese duo,
Rio Sakuma and
Takahiro Tezuka while
Vincent Bezecourt remained the only European foreign in the club. Geylang International started off their season with a brilliant display getting 10 points with 2 wins, 4 draws and 0 lost in their first six matches where the club also ended Lion City Sailors winning streak making them drop points in their first four matches. The club also went on to beat Albirex Niigata (S) in a 6–0 thrashing win on 6 July 2024 where Tomoyuki Doi went on to scored 3 hat-tricks in 7 league matches. On 7 March 2025, Tomuyuki Doi went on to scored his 39 league goal surpassing the all-time league records goalscorer of 38 goals set by
Mirko Grabovac in 2001. With the club Japanese players like Tomuyuki Doi,
Rio Sakuma and
Takahiro Tezuka leaving the club. Geylang International then shift their attention on finding Japanese players to replace the outgoing player, the club sign
Riku Fukashiro,
Kaisei Ogawa,
Shodai Yokoyama, and
Shuhei Hoshino ahead of the
2025–26 season. Geylang International also signed Hougang United captain
Nazrul Nazari, and Serbian
Nikola Ignjatovic for the new season. == Team image ==