Billionaire Forrest Li to run unopposed for FAS president after opponent disqualified

Forrest Li, billionaire founder of Sea, is set to run unopposed for president of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) in council elections taking place later this month.

His opponent, former Balestier Khalsa vice-chairman Darwin Jalil and his team, were disqualified as one of their candidates was deemed ineligible, The Straits Times and CNA reported.

Opponent's team disqualified

In the election, a nine-candidate team will be elected en bloc to fill council roles — one president, one deputy president, four vice-presidents and three council members.

If one candidate is ineligible, the whole slate will not be allowed to run.

Initially, two candidates out of the initial nine on Darwin's team, "Football First", failed the integrity checks, so they had until Apr. 10 to submit forms for a replacement, ST reported.

However, one of their replacements, president of the ITE Alumni Association Neo Ghim Chye, was subsequently rejected by the FAS Elections Appeals Committee.

This means Darwin's team is ineligible to run for election.

ST understood from Darwin that Neo was proposed as a candidate for deputy president but was not considered to have had sufficient contributions to sport.

According to the FAS constitution, a candidate running for its office of the deputy president must have, for two of the last five years, played an active role either in association football or an official within FIFA, a confederation, an association, or an active role in the management of sports in general or a sport in particular.

Set to take over from Bernard Tan

Li, 47, is the chairman of Lion City Sailors, a Singapore Premier League club.

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

On Mar. 17, Li declared his intention to run for the FAS president post.

FAS announced the date of its extraordinary congress the same day.

The Apr. 28 elections are to form the FAS council for the next four-year term from 2025 to 2029.

With no eligible competitors, Li looks set to take over from outgoing FAS president Bernard Tan.

Tan became acting president in September 2022 and his term ends in 2025.

Tan previously told CNA that he would not be seeking re-election, adding that he believed the decision is "for the good of Singapore football".

Background

The deadline for the nominations of candidates to the FAS general secretariat closed on Mar. 31.

An announcement of qualified candidates for the elections will be held on Apr. 18.

The election is to be conducted on Apr. 28.

Top image from Lion City Sailors/Facebook