By entering the Young Lions into the S.League, the FAS hopes to expose young players to top-level competition, thus helping to prepare them for international tournaments such as the
Southeast Asian Games. While the bulk of the Young Lions squad is made up of members of Singapore's national under-23 team, the club also takes in promising young foreign players (e.g.
Luka Savić). However, foreign players are normally only recruited into the Young Lions squad if they could potentially change their nationality to Singaporean and be eligible to play international football for Singapore at some point in the future.
Malaysian domestic competition In 2011, the Football Association of Singapore and the
Football Association of Malaysia reached an agreement that would see greater cooperation between the two nations. One of the intended avenues would see Young Lions play in the
Malaysian Super League and
Malaysia Cup from 2012. The squad will be permitted up to five local players over the age of 14–16 players, as well as a number of overseas players in accordance with the quota set out by the rules of the Malaysian competitions. Ultimately, a new team was created, the
LionsXII, while the Young Lions remained in the S.League.
National Football Academy Most of the Young Lions players come from the NFA (
National Football Academy) and new players (from the NFA) will be promoted to the Young Lions squad every season. The National Football Academy enters both the Singapore NFA U-17 and
Singapore NFA U-18 teams into the
Prime League to allow their players to gain more exposure and match experience by playing against older and more established players.
Foreign players In 2023, Young Lions signed the Japanese duo
Jun Kobayashi and
Kan Kobayashi from
Albirex Niigata (S) becoming the first foreign players since French
Benjamin Bertrand from
Tours in 2016. In preparation for the
2024–25 Singapore Premier League season, Young Lions signed two additional Japanese players,
Kaisei Ogawa and
Itsuki Enomoto, and the Australian
Rashid Hayek from
Western United, making it the first time the club had five foreigners in the squad. On 28 March 2025, Young Lions recorded their highest ever win during the
2024–25 Singapore Cup fixtures against Albirex Niigata (S) where Kaisei Ogawa became the second players in the club history to score four goals in one match since
Zikos Chua against
Tanjong Pagar United on 7 August 2022. After a reshuffle in the
Football Association of Singapore seeing
Forrest Li as the FAS new president in 2025, Young Lions sees a major overhaul in the club 2025–26 season where they signed a new partnership with Denmark manufacturing company
Select ending a deal with Nike after 17 years. The club also sees themselves getting a main sponsor on the front of their jersey with Chinese
state-owned automobile company,
Dongfeng. Young Lions also went on to signed a few youngsters from Brazil with the likes of
Abner Vinicius,
Joilson,
Lucas Agueiro and
Sérgio Mendonça while they loan a few under-21 foreign players from Lion City Sailors with the likes of
Enrico Walmrath,
Harry Spence and
Benjamin Žerak. ==Stadium==