Singapore Lion City Sailors Football Training Centre

Project Type

Football training facility

Completion

April 2022

GFA

2,820m²

Land Area

2.7 Ha

Located at 8 Mattar Road, the Lion City Sailors (LCS) Football Training Centre will be Singapore’s first fully-integrated football training centre for children, youth and professionals. MORROW was tasked with designing a complex to help fuel the club’s vision of excellence and professionalism.

The ground breaking ceremony was held in April 2021, with Guest-of-Honour Ms Tin Pei Ling, Member of Parliament for MacPherson Single Member Constituency (SMC); Mr Lim Teck Yin, Chief Executive of Sport Singapore (SportSG); and Mr Lim Kia Tong, President of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Costing S$10 million, this state-of-the-art training centre will house the training academy, and is slated to complete in April 2022.

The academy’s complex

The academy’s ground floor is dedicated to the team’s footballers and staff, while the second floor contains spaces dedicated to the public, including a cafe, and gathering and activity areas for the local residents. In addition, the second floor serves as a viewing deck for parents and soccer fans, and the briefing room can be used for conducting classes or talks.

Functions and Challenges

Due to the irregularity of the site, MORROW was initially faced with the challenge of fitting three football fields into the area. However, through careful planning, an efficient solution was achieved by spreading out the training-related facilities across the horizontal ground plane. The facility hence boasts one Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)-certified football pitch, three pitches that are 7-a-side, which also doubles up as an 11-a-side; and a regular 11-a-side pitch.

The functions of the building’s east wing correspond with the training fields for the youths and academy, while the west wing caters to the first team’s players – complete with spaces for Sports Science and Medicine, Video Analytics, Gym, Lockers, and Recreation. Overall, the grounds of the facility were divided into three distinctive clusters, all of which were connected by common circulation corridors that link all the fields.

Both wings are attached to a grand cantilever entrance canopy at the centre of the building with common functions such as study rooms, meeting rooms, and access to public spaces. An increased office space also means the facility will be able to house up to 60 staff members – more than five times the original capacity of 10 at its current facility. The club aims to bring the MacPherson community closer together with its facilities and initiatives that it is currently exploring, such as youth mentorship programmes. With this objective in mind, MORROW incorporated an area with public facilities to foster closer community bonds between nearby residents.

When completed, this facility will cater to the high-quality training of young, aspiring footballers. Not only will this help uplift Singapore’s football ecosystem, it will also add vibrancy and give back to the community as well. With all the available land space efficiently utilised based on MORROW’s design, distinctive zones could be created not only for players to develop their sense of belonging, but also for the public to enjoy the facilities that aim to bring the community closer together. With this proximity, the players will be able to reap both the physical and emotional benefits.

Conclusion

In conclusion, MORROW was able to help the LCS Football club realise its objective of achieving an excellent standing both locally and overseas, by allowing for their young talents to be well-groomed in its new, well-equipped facility.