Foundation

The club was founded as Marine Castle United Football Club, which was formed by Newcastle United fans in the Marine Parade area in 1998. Upon successful entry into the S.League in 1998, the club struggled in its early foray in the first few years, finishing in the bottom two for the next four seasons. The club's chairman was Dilwant Singh who became the club manager and head coach of the prime league team throughout his time at the club. Marine Castle then changed its name to Sengkang Marine Football Club in 2002 and the Dilwant was succeeded by David Rowe in which Dilwant became the assistant head coach. Sengkang Marine then goes on to finished in 8th position consecutively, its highest ever finish in its short history.

Permanently renaming the club's name as Hougang United (2011–present)

On 1 January 2011, the chairman of Sengkang Punggol Football Club, Mr. Bill Ng, announced the changes that began the rewriting of another chapter of the football club. With improved financial status and a change in name to the present Hougang United Football Club, there was renewed optimism among the Hougang fan base around the club's home stadium since its inception, Hougang Stadium.^[1] The club also had its fair share of marquee players in the earlier days such as Michael Currie, who formerly played for Queens Park Rangers). Conversely, Grant Holt began his early career at the club, before going on to play for upper division clubs in England, such as Nottingham Forest and Norwich City in the English Premier League.

In November 2014, it was announced that Hougang United and Woodlands Wellington will merge for the 2015 season.^[2]

AFC Cup debut

Hougang United make their AFC Cup debut in the 2020 AFC Cup but due to COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament got cancelled thus only winning one match against Laos side, Lao Toyota 1–3 at the New Laos National Stadium in Vientiane. The Cheetahs also qualified for the 2022 AFC Cup group stage where they play all their match in a centralised venue at the Thống Nhất Stadium in Vietnam which see Hougang United finishing 2nd out of 4th place winning 4–3 against Cambodian side, Phnom Penh Crown and defeating Laos side, Young Elephants 1–3 before suffering a heavy defeat to Vietnamese club, Viettel 5–2.

Hougang United players lifting the 2022 Singapore Cup trophy in its first ever piece of silverware in the club history.

First silverware

On 19 November 2022, under the lead of caretaker manager Firdaus Kassim, Hougang United defeated defending champions, Tampines Rovers 3–2 in the 2022 Singapore Cup final in which Kristijan Krajček scored a hat-trick to secured The Cheetahs their first ever silverware.^[3]

The club also finished 5th in the Singapore Premier League in the same season which meant they failed to qualify for any continental competitions but due to their Singapore Cup win, they snatched an AFC Cup spot from fellow Premier League club, Geylang International.^[4] Hougang United started off their 2023–24 AFC Cup campaign with a trip to Kota Kinabalu facing Sabah on 21 September 2023 where they played their first fixtures in a heavy downpours which they suffered a 3–1 away lost however in the next match against Haiphong at the Jalan Besar Stadium, Hougang United bounced back from 1–0 down as Đorđe Maksimović scored a brace in the last 10 minute in the game to settled for a 2–1 victory as the Cheetahs collected the 3 points. Hougang United went on to have a great run in the 2023 Singapore Cup where they reach the final but is unavailable to retained their cup.

Partnership

On 22 November 2014, Hougang United announced a partnership with Global Football Academy for the 2015 S.League season.^[6] On 16 November 2021, Hougang United announced the signing of main sponsorship with The Physio Circle for 3 years starting from 2022 to 2024.

On 19 October 2022, Hougang United announced the signing of sponsorship with Advance Capital Partners Pte Ltd for its women's team competing in the FAS Women's Premier League.

Scholarship

The Hougang United Scholarship was launched in May 2015. The aim of the scholarship is to support and facilitate the academic development of young non-professional footballing talents.^[7]

Current squad

As of 13 June 2023

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 GK  SGP Zaiful Nizam 2 DF  SGP Anders Aplin 3 DF  SGP Jordan Vestering U23 4 DF  SGP Nazrul Nazari (Captain) 8 MF  SGP Shahdan Sulaiman 9 FW  SGP Fairoz Hasan 10 MF  CRO Kristijan Krajček 11 FW  SGP Hazzuwan Halim 14 MF  SGP Umar Ramle

No. Pos. Nation Player (TBA) MF  SGP Nikesh Singh Sidhu (Back from NS) 16 DF  SGP Ajay Robson U23 19 GK  SGP Zaiful Nizam 68 DF  SGP Iryan Fandi U23

Under-21s and Academy

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 53 GK  SGP Keith Chung U21 55 DF  SGP Rauf Sanizal U21 58 MF  SGP Louka Vaissierre-Tan U21 60 MF  SGP Raimi Ishraq U21

No. Pos. Nation Player 61 GK  SGP Isaac Jonathan Lee U21 63 MF  SGP Hariysh Krishnakumar U21 74 DF  SGP Nasrul Pujiyono U21

On loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  SGP Harhys Stewart (to Young Lions) — DF  SGP Sahffee Jubpre (National Service until 2023) — MF  SGP Farhan Zulkifli (National Service until 2025) — GK  SGP Aizil Yazid (National Service until 2025, to Young Lions)

Top 10 all-time appearances

Rank	Player	Years	Club appearances
1	Nazrul Nazari	2016–present	181
2	Lau Meng Meng	2009–2015	174
3	Nurhilmi Jasni	2012–2018	165
4	Faizal Amir	2010–2016	146
5	Fadhil Salim	2010–2014	142
6	Azhar Sairudin	2011–2014, 2017	138
7	Fazli Jaffar	2011–2014, 2015	130
8	Fairoz Hasan	2013–2017, 2023–present	128
9	Mamadou Diallo	2008–2013	126
10	Fabian Kwok	2017–2022	122

Top 10 all-time scorers

Rank	Player	Club appearances	Total goals
1	Stipe Plazibat	57	34
	Jordan Webb	88
3	Mamadou Diallo	126	28
4	Pedro Bortoluzo	30	23
	Geison Moura	32
6	Diego Gama	63	22
7	Kristijan Krajček	56	21
	Shawal Anuar	68
9	Tomoyuki Doi	21	19
	Nurhilmi Jasni	165

• Biggest Wins: 7–3 vs Tampines Rovers (11 September 2021)
• Heaviest Defeats: 8–2 vs Lion City Sailors (13 August 2023)
• Youngest Goal scorers: Farhan Zulkifli ~ 16 years 7 months 19 days old (On 29 June 2019 vs Home United)
• Oldest Goal scorers: Shahril Ishak ~ 38 years 6 months 28 days old (On 20 August 2022 vs Young Lions)
• Youngest ever debutant: Farhan Zulkifli ~ 16 years 7 months 19 days old (On 29 June 2019 vs Home United)