Sea founder & billionaire Forrest Li to run for S'pore football president post

Forrest Li, billionaire founder of Sea, will be running for the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) president post.

The Straits Times and CNA reported that the 47-year-old will take part in the FAS elections on Apr. 28, according to Li's spokesperson on Mar. 17.

The naturalised Singapore citizen is the chairman of Lion City Sailors, a Singapore Premier League club.

FAS announced the date of its extraordinary congress on the same day as Li's announcement.

The elections are to form the FAS council for the next four-year term from 2025 to 2029.

Li's decade-long association with Singapore football can be traced to 2016.

That year, Garena, the digital entertainment arm of parent company Sea Limited, signed a two-year deal with SPL side Young Lions — a S$2 million cash sponsorship, with an additional S$2 million for developmental programmes.

In 2019, Li joined the Home United management committee.

He privatised the club as the Sailors in 2020.

He also served as an FAS council member from 2017 to 2021.

Li, as the founder of homegrown tech firm Sea Limited, has a reported net worth of US$8.4 billion (S$11.3 billion).

He was 12th on Forbes’ Singapore 50 richest list in 2024.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed Sea Limited owns e-commerce platform Shopee.

It also operates businesses in gaming and digital finance.

What FAS constitution allows

According to the FAS constitution, a candidate running for its office of the president must have, for two of the last five years, played an active role in association football before being proposed as a candidate.

This can be in the capacity of a board member, committee member, or an official within Fifa, a confederation, an association or an ordinary member of FAS.

There is no provision in the constitution that prohibits a senior club official, such as Li being a football club's chairman, from taking up an exco role.

Currently, FAS vice president Thavaneson Selvaratnam is the chairman of Balestier Khalsa, an SPL side.

How is FAS election carried out

The election of its council members will be carried out in two ways.

The first way, on a slate basis, involves nine candidates running for the posts of the president, deputy president, four vice-presidents and three council members as a team.

They are proposed en masse and elected en bloc.

The second way, on an individual basis, involves the remaining six council members being proposed and elected individually.

A female member is required to be featured in the FAS council.

The deadline for nomination of candidates to the FAS general secretariat is Mar. 31.

An announcement of qualified candidates for the elections will be held on Apr. 18, 10 days before the extraordinary congress.

It is not certain if there will be a contest on Apr. 28 as Li has been the only one forthcoming about his aspiration to be FAS president.

Former Woodlands Wellington general manager R. Vengadasalam, 64, is one of those who could feature in the elections, but his participation is not confirmed, according to ST.

Contest for president post?

The incumbent FAS chief is Bernard Tan, who was elected for the remainder of the 2022-2025 term at the FAS’ annual congress in September 2023.

Tan has not confirmed if he will stand for re-election and declined to comment when approached by ST.

Tan served as vice-president from 2013 and deputy president from 2017.

He became acting president in September 2022.

This was after the death of then-president Lim Kia Tong.

The late Lim was the FAS’ first elected president in 2017 and he was unopposed four years later.

Top photo via Lion City Sailors