Lion City Sailors score coup with two-time J1 League top scorer Anderson Lopes

Anderson Lopes, Lion City Sailors' new signing from Yokohama F. Marinos, at the Lion City Sailors training centre on July 15.

SINGAPORE – The Lion City Sailors’ unprecedented run to the AFC Champions League Two final in the 2024/25 campaign made clubs in the continent sit up and take notice.

And ahead of the new season, Singapore’s only privatised football club are not resting on their laurels.

The Singapore Premier League and Singapore Cup champions on July 17 confirmed that they have signed Brazilian forward Anderson Lopes from five-time J1 League champions Yokohama F. Marinos on a three-year contract.

While the Sailors did not disclose the transfer fee, The Straits Times understands that it is lower than the club’s record fee of €1.8 million (S$2.69 million) that it paid to sign Brazilian midfielder Diego Lopes from Portuguese Primeira Liga side Rio Ave in 2021, and the reported €1.5 million fee to Dutch Eredivisie side Utrecht for attacking midfielder Bart Ramselaar.

The signing of Lopes, 31, from the Marinos is a coup for the Sailors and Singapore football. Lopes had rejected interest from Brazilian giants Botafogo and clubs from Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, ST understands.

Lopes who primarily plays as a centre forward but can also operate as a second striker or as a winger, told ST that the ambitious project outlined by the Sailors’ management, along with Singapore being an ideal place for him and his family played a key role in his decision.

Lopes, who has two children – a five-year-old son and one-year-old daughter – with his wife said via a translator: “When the proposal came, of course, I didn’t know too much about Singapore, but I started to ask around about the country and then I realised it’s a good place for the family. After speaking to the club as well (about their project), I decided this was the right move.

“The club is ambitious and wants to keep growing and making history”.

Lopes first moved to Japan in 2016 when he joined J1 League side Sanfrecce Hiroshima on loan from Brazilian side Tombense. He was then loaned out to South Korean team FC Seoul in 2018, before returning to Japanese football the following year after completing a permanent move to Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. In 2021, he signed for Chinese club Wuhan FC but returned to Japan a year later to sign for Marinos.

Since joining Marinos in February 2022, Lopes had established himself as one of the best players in the Japanese top tier. In his first season, he scored 11 goals in the club’s league winning season. In the following two seasons, Lopes would win consecutive top scorer awards in the J1League.

In 2023, he was joint-top in the scoring charts with Japan international Yuya Osako with 22 goals before he netted 24 goals the following season to finish as top scorer. I n the current season, Lopes and his club have struggled amid some managerial changes.

Marinos are bottom of the 20-team league, with the Brazilian finding the net only twice in 20 matches.

But it is his prowess on the continental stage that Sailors will hope to reap rewards. In the 2023–24 AFC Champions League season, Lopes was top scorer for Marinos – six goals in 11 matches – as the Japanese side reached the final, where they were defeated by Al Ain from the United Arab Emirates.

In the inaugural season of the 2024-25 AFC Champions League Elite, Lopes finished joint-second in the scoring charts with nine goals in 10 matches, sharing the spot with Al-Ahli winger Riyad Mahrez and Gwangju FC’s Jasir Asani. Saudi Arabian captain Salem Al-Dawsari claimed the Golden Boot with 10 goals, but Lopes outscored several high-profile names including Al-Nassr’s Portuguese icon Cristiano Ronaldo (eight goals), Al-Hilal’s Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Al-Ahli duo Ivan Toney and Roberto Firmino, who each scored six.

Lopes arrives in Singapore with a clear ambition.

“I came here to score goals and win titles. I want to grow with the club, and make history together and help the club to do even better and better,” said the Brazilian.

The signing of Anderson Lopes, 31, from the Marinos is a coup for the Sailors and Singapore football. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

Beyond that, Lopes vowed to put in relentless hard work.

He credited this work ethic to his upbringing in the favela of Recife, Brazil, and the values instilled by his family. Football helped Lopes to purchase a flat for his family and build a future he once only dreamt of.

That same drive and determination still remains.

“What they (fans) can expect from me is that I will give everything on the pitch, whether it is in training, the games, and I will score the goals to make everyone happy,” he added.

Sailors head coach Aleksandar Rankovic, who recently inked a two-year contract extension with the club, will now have added ammunition in his front line, which already includes 2023 SPL Player of the Year Maxime Lestienne – who is contracted to the club till December – German forward Lennart Thy, Ramselaar and Lions hitman Shawal Anuar.

Rankovic said: “To reach 100 goals in a league as competitive as the J1 speaks volumes about his quality. But it’s not just about his goalscoring. Anderson is excellent at holding the ball up and just as capable of creating chances for his teammates. I’m confident he’ll be a tremendous asset to the team this season.”

The Sailors have also bolstered their squad since they made a historic run to the ACL 2 final, where they lost 2-1 to Emirati side Sharjah FC in May. The Sailors are the first team from Singapore to feature in a continental final.

National team stalwart Safuwan Baharudin has joined on a season-long loan from Selangor, they have added Croat custodian Ivan Susak from Croatian top-tier side Slaven Belupo, and beefed up the midfield with former German Under-20 player Tsiy-William Ndenge.

The Sailors who are competing on four fronts again – the SPL, Singapore Cup, Asean Club Championship and ACL2 – and will kick off their season with the Singapore Community Shield match against BG Tampines Rovers on Aug 16.

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