Hougang United FC

Did You Know?

• The club's supporters' club, the Hougang HOOLS (Hougang Only One Love), was established in 2010.
• The Hougang United Scholarship was launched in May 2015 to support academic development of young non-professional footballing talents.
• Hougang United was deducted 5 points for a pre-match brawl with Etoile during the 2011 season.

History

The club was founded as Marine Castle United Football Club in 1988 as a National Football League team formed by Newcastle United fans in the Marine Parade area, earning the nickname the Dolphins. In 1998, the club entered the S.League but struggled, finishing in the bottom two for four consecutive seasons under chairman Dilwant Singh. The club changed its name to Sengkang Marine Football Club in 2002, achieving consecutive 8th-place finishes, its highest-ever finish, before financial difficulties forced it out of the S.League in 2004. In January 2006, Sengkang Marine merged with Paya Lebar-Punggol to form Sengkang Punggol Football Club, adopting a dolphin logo and sea blue as its main colour. In September, Orientus Asia Hotels and Resorts became the main sponsor with a deal worth $250,000, but the club never finished higher than 10th place. On 1 January 2011, chairman Bill Ng announced the name change to Hougang United Football Club. In November 2014, a merger with Woodlands Wellington was announced for the 2015 season. Hougang United made its AFC Cup debut in the 2020 AFC Cup, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the club played only one match, a 3–1 win against Lao Toyota. The Cheetahs qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage, winning 4–3 against Phnom Penh Crown and 3–1 against Young Elephants before a 5–2 loss to Viettel. On 19 November 2022, under caretaker manager Firdaus Kassim, Hougang United defeated defending champions Tampines Rovers 3–2 in the 2022 Singapore Cup final, with Kristijan Krajček scoring a hat-trick to secure the club's first-ever silverware. The club finished 5th in the Singapore Premier League that season. In the 2023–24 AFC Cup, Hougang United lost 3–1 away to Sabah, then beat Haiphong 2–1 at Jalan Besar Stadium after Đorđe Maksimović scored a brace. The club reached the final of the 2023 Singapore Cup.