Kicking It Back: What Went Down At The Ascendas Reit 5v5 Futsal Challenge 2022 at Changi Business Park

16 teams, three days, and three eventual winners. Here are some highlights of the 2022 Ascendas Reit (AREIT) CBP 5v5 Futsal Challenge, from both on and off the pitch.

If you’ve ever watched or played in a futsal match, you’d know that it can get quite intense. Unlike soccer, futsal is played in teams of five, on a much smaller field, with a smaller ball with less bounce, and a faster-paced gameplay.

If that doesn’t sound like much to you, imagine having 128 men across 16 teams with their game faces on, battling it out on the pitch, discussing team strategies in between matches, all competing for the title of champion.

Defend! Watch your back! Pass! Goal! These are just some of the things we heard while watching the nail-biting finals on the last day of the three-day Ascendas Reit (AREIT) CBP 5v5 Futsal Challenge. Back after a COVID-induced hiatus, the Challenge ran from 6 to 8 July at The Ark Futsal at Plaza 8 @ Changi Business Park. Here’s a look at what went down on those three days.

Each day of the event started off with a mass warmup session—think stretching, light cardio, and simple drills. Photos: The Ark Futsal

Team CS United from Credit Suisse made it through to the semi-finals on the last day of the event. Photo: The Ark Futsal

With a combination of AREIT tenant teams, CapitaLand tenant teams, CapitaLand Investment teams, and public or non-tenant teams, the challenge started off with qualifiers played in a round-robin tour-nament on the first two days, and ended off in an exciting finals showdown on the last day.

The 16 teams competing included CS United from Credit Suisse at ONE@Changi City at Changi Business Park, APDC 1 and 2 from Future Electronics at Changi Logistics Centre, JLR FC from Jaguar Land Rover at CapitaGreen, Ocean’s 8 from Robert Walters Singapore at Six Battery Road, CL Digitech, C’Land Rang-ers, and nine other public or non-tenant teams.

Guest of Honour William Tay, CEO of Ascendas Funds Management, presenting the grand prize to our champions, Team Revolution Futsal. Photo: The Ark Futsal

Our first runner-up, Next Team, won $800 eCapitaVouchers, $190 e-ARK Futsal vouchers, a trophy, and medals, also presented by William .

First runner-up Next Team poses for a photo with Guest of Honour William Tay, CEO of Ascendas Fund Management. Photo: The Ark Futsal

After a total of 24 qualifying matches, and 16 grand final matches, we crowned Team Revolution Futsal our champions. William Tay, CEO of Ascendas Funds Management, presented them with the top prize of $1,200 eCapitaVouchers, $190 e-ARK Futsal vouchers, a champion trophy, and medals for each player in the team.

Our second runner-up, Kampung Buangkok, not only won $500 eCapitaVouchers, a trophy, and medals, they also swept up the Best Attacking Team and Best Defending Team awards, and went home with two additional hour-long e-ARK Futsal vouchers. The runner-up award was presented by William , while the Best Attacking Team and Best Defending Team awards were presented by Chris Chong, CEO of Retail and Workspace (Singapore and Malaysia), CapitaLand Investment.

Kampung Buangkok swept up a total of three prizes at the event—second runner-up, presented by William Tay (L), CEO of Ascendas Funds Management; Best Attacking Team, and Best Defending Team, both presented by Chris Chong (R), CEO of Retail and Workspace (Singapore and Malaysia), CapitaLand Investment. Photo: The Ark Futsal

As a fun treat for our players and spectators, we brought in a kacang puteh stand, popcorn machine, and ice cream cart to serve treats to everyone.

Old-school snacks galore.

We had spectators both young and old taking part in our fringe activities. Photos: The Ark Futsal

On the side, we had fringe activities running on all three days of the event for spectators and the general public to get a piece of the action as well. Four mini stations were set up around the main futsal pitches, where all could try their hand at juggling, shooting, and heading balls through the different courses. Some of our sharpest shooters even walked away with prizes.

Lots of photographs and videos were taken by our spectators. Photo: The Ark Futsal

Besides competing, Jaguar Land Rover’s team, JLR FC, even had a personal cheerleading team of their own, made up of their supportive colleagues. Photo: The Ark Futsal

We also held a Facebook Photo Contest on our your Workplace Community Facebook page, where we invited players, spectators, guests, and the general public to post selfies or photos with their families and friends at the AREIT CBP 5v5 Futsal Challenge 2022 on our page for the chance to win a $50 Starbucks eGift Card.

It’s been a long time since our last Futsal Challenge, but some things—like the warmth and support we received from our community of players and spectators—just never seem to change. Before we round off our event recap, we’d like to introduce some of our event participants from our tenant teams.

Ayub by the futsal pitch, supporting the first team from Fu-ture Electronics, APDC 1, in their match on day one of the qualifiers.

Muhammad Ayub Bohari, Future Electronics at Changi Logistics Centre, APDC 2

“I’m a security guard under Future Electronics, and I’ve been working in the company for nine years now. I play futsal once every two to three months, and I signed up for the Futsal Challenge because I wanted to enjoy it while maintaining my physical fitness.

I don’t want to live a sedentary lifestyle at home, so I look forward to taking part in similar events in the future—hopefully CapitaLand will organise more of such activities!”

Fadly Sapar, Future Electronics at Changi Logistics Centre, APDC 2

“I’ve been working in the IT department at Future Electronics for a year.

I signed up for the Futsal Challenge because I wanted to feel the rush of enjoyment that comes with playing futsal in a team. Outside of this, I don’t really get the chance to play futsal on my own, maybe only once every three to four months, so I would definitely take part in similar events in the future.”

Fadly (middle, back) and his teammates from APDC 2, posing for a photo before their first match.

Chuin Chuen (in black), posing with his team, CS United after qualify-ing for the finals.

Chuin Chuen Wong, Credit Suisse at One@Changi City, CS United

“I’m an analyst with the corporate action team at Credit Suisse, and I’ve been here for the past six years.

I was first introduced to football when I got to know some of the guys in the Credit Suisse football in-terest group right after I joined the company, so since then I’ve picked up quite a bit of interest for the sport. I like what we have going on with the whole team, so it’s quite nice getting the opportunity to play and compete together.

We actually participated in the Futsal Challenge three years ago, pre-COVID, so when we saw that it was happening again, we were like “Sure, let’s go for it!”. This time, we got even further than we did the last time round, so it’s definitely an improvement, and I thought we really had a shot!

The experience has been pretty good overall—everything’s quite well-organised, there are free snacks, and the pitch is pretty decent as well. If similar events are held not too far from office, I’d definitely be okay to participate again.”

Danzel Tay, Robert Walters at Six Battery Road, Ocean’s 8

“I’m a digital marketer at Robert Walters, and I signed up for the Futsal Challenge with some of my friends. We play futsal together pretty often after work, about twice a week, so we thought it would be quite interesting to take part in this and to just try playing together in a slightly more competitive environment.

Futsal is great because there’s an element of teamwork, it’s a great form of exercise, and it’s a good way to let off steam considering how a lot of us have kids and families of our own.

Overall, I’d say the Futsal Challenge was quite enjoyable. The atmosphere is good, and most of the games were played in good spirit.”

Danzel (back row, third from left) with his friends from Ocean’s 8

Win or lose, here’s to you, our workplace community. Thank you all for being a part of the AREIT Futsal Challenge 2022. We hope you’ll stick around for more of such events to come.