The Lion City Sailors Women reclaimed the Women’s Premier League (WPL) title in emphatic fashion on Saturday (27 June), as they capped off a remarkable campaign with a 20-0 victory over Hougang United at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium to secure a record-equalling fourth league crown.

Having spent much of the season chasing leaders Albirex Jurong, the Sailors never lost belief and ultimately edged their rivals on goal difference to complete a memorable turnaround.

“I think the word ‘resilience’ defines this team,” said captain Umairah Hamdan. “No matter how difficult the road was, we never gave up and kept going until the end of the season.”

Knowing victory against Hougang would be enough to seal the title, the Sailors simply focused on playing their game on the night. Fittingly, it was the departing Japanese duo Eri Kitagawa and Ami Takeuchi who led the charge, scoring six and five goals respectively in their final appearances for the club.

“We were fighting to regain the WPL title and we’re so happy we managed to do it,” said Ami. “It’s bittersweet because we’re champions again, but at the same time, we won’t be playing for the Sailors anymore.”

Raeka Ee, Seri Nurinsyirah and Nur Ain Salleh each scored twice, while Farah Nurzahirah also found the net in a scoreline that was further boosted by a couple of Hougang own goals.

The deadlock was broken in the 10th minute when Eri’s effort came back off the crossbar and bounced off Hougang goalkeeper Nurul Faizah, before trickling over the line.

Raeka blasted home to double the advantage seven minutes later, before the floodgates opened.

Four goals from Eri, two from Ami and another own goal saw the Sailors race into a 9-0 lead before the Japanese duo combined brilliantly just before half-time, with Ami’s clever backheel releasing Eri to score from close range and make it 10-0 at the break.

The Sailors’ relentless onslaught continued after the restart.

Ami completed her hat-trick before adding a fourth by the 52nd minute. Soon after, Farah’s inviting cross was headed home by Raeka for her third WPL goal of the season as the score became 13-0.

Farah then turned provider again for Eri’s sixth goal before getting on the scoresheet herself after capitalising on a mix-up in the Hougang defence. Ami rounded off her evening by netting her 60th league goal of the season to make it 16-0.

The closing stages belonged to the substitutes as Daniel Ong’s side showcased their impressive squad depth. Tia Foong’s cross was swept home by Seri, who became the club’s 19th different goalscorer in the league this season.

“It felt amazing to get on the scoresheet and contribute to the team,” said 17-year-old Seri. “Lifting the trophy here in front of our fans was an unreal feeling, and celebrating together made it even more special.

“Becoming four-time champions is something we’re all incredibly proud of. None of this would have been possible without the amazing support from our fans.”

Seri added her second in the 87th minute after Ain had headed home Tia’s corner, before Hougang’s difficult evening was completed in the 89th minute when Priscille Le Helloco’s cross was turned in by Ain, who reached double figures for league goals this season.

Remarkably, it was the second time this season the Sailors had beaten Hougang 20-0, having recorded the same scoreline back in April.

They finished the campaign with an astonishing 166 goals in just 16 league matches — an average of 10.4 goals per game.

Ami and Eri contributed 93 of those goals between them, which underlined the enormous impact they made during their time in Singapore.

“Even though the level of women’s football in Japan and Singapore is quite different, we still learned a lot from our time here,” said Ami, with Eri by her side. “It was a great experience because football feels the same all over the world.”

The former Urawa Red Diamonds forward also expressed her gratitude to Singapore before the pair departed on Sunday, with Eri returning to Japan while Ami hopes to pursue opportunities in Europe.

“Even though we can’t speak English very well, everyone in Singapore has been so kind to us,” said Ami, who finished as the league’s top scorer with 60 goals, 17 more than Albirex Jurong’s Ruriko Takashima.

“We’ll truly miss everyone because we’ve become so close during our time here.”

Eri added: “Everyone in Singapore enjoys football. Most players work before training and matches, yet everyone remains hardworking and fully committed. I really admire that.”

After the final whistle, the Sailors celebrated in special commemorative “Cham4ions” T-shirts as they reclaimed the title they had previously won in 2022, 2023 and 2024 before being dethroned last season.

“It means a lot because we lost the title last year,” reflected Head Coach Daniel Ong.

“It was a difficult season because I think much of our focus was on the AFC Women’s Champions League. We achieved some good results at the continental level, so we were determined to qualify again. That became the motivation behind our work every week, and the girls responded brilliantly.”

The Sailors had been forced to play catch-up after suffering a damaging defeat to Albirex earlier in the campaign, but a crucial 4-2 victory over their rivals a fortnight ago swung the title race decisively in their favour.

“That second win over Albirex was the turning point because we had to win to keep the title race alive,” said Daniel. “We analysed what went wrong in the first meeting, corrected our mistakes and managed to get the result we needed.”

The Sailors then followed that up with a 12-0 victory over Tiong Bahru to move top heading into the final round, with Daniel also crediting his backroom staff for keeping the squad focused.

“We kept reminding the girls about the objective for each game because it would have been easy to get carried away after beating Albirex,” he explained. “We hadn’t won anything yet at that point. We stayed focused on one match at a time throughout the season.”

Albirex kept the pressure on until the final whistle with a 10-0 victory over Tiong Bahru, but the Sailors ultimately prevailed thanks to a superior goal difference of +28.

The title also books the Sailors’ return to the AFC Women’s Champions League for the 2027/28 edition after they reached the group stage in only their second appearance last year.

“There are still many areas we need to improve if we want to compete at the continental level,” said Daniel. “For now, the most important thing is for the girls to maintain their fitness, and then we’ll build from there.”

Domestically, however, the Sailors are back where they believe they belong. Having scored 10 or more goals in nine of their 16 league matches this season, they will now look to build on this success and become the first club to win the WPL title five times next year.

“Albirex are definitely one of the strongest teams in the league because they have several experienced foreign players,” Daniel concluded. “We have a much younger squad, and composure is something we need to continue developing if we want to progress even further.”