The Lion City Sailors will play Malaysian giants Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) in two friendly matches in April, as the club ramps up their preparations for the upcoming 2024/25 Singapore Premier League (SPL) season. 

The Sailors will host the Southern Tigers at the Bishan Stadium in Singapore on Thursday, 4 April at 8.30pm, before making the trip across the Causeway to face the 10-time Malaysia Super League (MSL) winners at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium the following Monday, 8 April at 10pm.

The two matches also serve to reinforce the relationship between both clubs, with cooperation already ongoing at the youth level through regular friendly matches. 

Boosted by new signings like Bart Ramselaar, Toni Datković and Song Uiyoung, the 2023 Singapore Cup champions will be eager to test themselves against a formidable JDT side. 

Amongst their ranks are former Udinese star Fernando Forestieri and ex-Swansea City player Jordi Amat, as well as rising Malaysian stars Arif Aiman Hanapi and Romel Morales.

Sailors captain Hariss Harun believes the two matches will stand them in good stead ahead of a gruelling 2024/25 campaign. 

“Everyone in the region knows about JDT’s quality, but we’re building up something at the Sailors as well, so we want to test ourselves and see how we can compete against them,” said the 33-year-old, who won six MSL titles with JDT between 2014 to 2020. 

“This is also a good opportunity for some of the young players who’re embedded in the first team this season, and we want to give a good account of ourselves in these two matches.”

Ticketing details for both matches will be released shortly.