Grilled Birds carved out another tiny slice of Singapore Hattrick history for themselves, as they captured their third Sapphire Challenger Cup, also their second in three seasons. This took their national-level cup count to thirteen, which includes at least three of each - a record unmatched by any other local club, for any of the trophies. The story started with their 2-6 elimination from the main cup by Senttoza Springboks in the fourth round, which led into big wins against Brighton UK, AMDK FC and Ah Beng FC. The semifinals had struggling league opponents Singapore Red Dragons throw their best, only for Raúl Himadas to match Csaba Báthory-Bozó's two goals in a 4-2 result. The cup finals against Moeinsingapore were Grilled's first to be decided on penalties after strikes from Lim An Keng and Jerome Rego, but there was little enough tension with veteran legend Chan Ze Han sealing it on the fourth take, after misses by Akolie Lopez and Goh Yew Shun.

This capped a superb personal season by oft-maligned Spanish defender Raúl Himadas, who not only earned himself a three-way share of the Sapphire Challenger Cup scoring title with five goals, but also the league Golden Boot with an impressive twelve, two ahead of renowned attackers Cezar Cheţan and Li Choon An. Tian Yonghang again bought wisely for the finals with Bosnian winger Darko Andrović coming in and commanding the left flank for S$6.5 million, a sum soon eclipsed by Tian's S$9 million purchase of former national youth defender Genki Nagano from Arcturules, continuing a long tradition between the clubs. Genki was touted as a natural successor to 31 year-old lynchpin Aw Keng Chuan, but Aw has reiterated his intention to remain the Birds' core midfielder... while also welcoming all challenges.

Cup distractions would see Grilled Birds waver in the league, and they would seem threatened at times after four defeats in the first half of the season, which put them very much in relegation territory. This would turn around after a big 4-3 home victory against recent S-League club FC Barca Singapore in the eighth round, which brought four straight wins after a further stumble against West Merlions. Ambush F.C. then upset a Birds team with nothing to play for in the final fixture, which did not save them from going down to Batok Earthquakes in their qualifier. In any case, the return of Controlar and Queenstown MZKs made this something of a reunion for the new season, which is one that the fans are eagerly looking forward to.

Farmer Bunnies nearly made themselves the Birds' Sapphire Challenger Cup final opponents as they clambered their way to the semifinals, only to be stopped 0-2 by Moeinsingapore, and only then through two Risto Haapola penalties. This left something of a sour taste in the mouths of the Buns support, coming after their own perfect execution of dragging it to the shootout - which had seen them dispose of Marina Sailors, The Sing Tigers and Padstow Pirates in turn. Before that, only FC Barca Singapore could handle them in the Singapore Cup, with Cezar Cheţan leading Barca to a comfortable 3-0 triumph.

Despite this achievement, it could hardly be hidden that Vishnu Tallapaka's squad had major issues in putting the ball into the net, with a miserable nineteen-goal return for the full season, and no more than three by a single player as recorded by Dušan Václavík and Koushan Khatibi. This left them on eleven points with just two league wins, which had them barely avoid automatic relegation by edging AMDK FC on goal difference. Fortunately, FC Air Hydrous didn't appear too interested in Division Two just yet, and Bunnies managed a 4-0 win against their reduced team.

Grilled International's own Sapphire Challenger Cup run would be memorable too, as they wrote themselves into the Hattrick International annals, with their winning seven rounds in the competition to reach the semi-finals. This included three single-goal victories before a 5-3 over fellow giantslayers Samba Colonia 2020 in the quarters, but Austrian top flight club Lila Crows were far too strong, and prevailed 5-1 after Khosrov Danelyan raised hopes with a brilliant early poach. Alas, they would be defeated 2-4 by eventual Bolivian champions The White Stripes in the finals, with the Stripes also coincidentally replacing them in I.1.

International would not leave empty-handed for that, as would-be Player of the Season Egidius van der Duin shared the cup Golden Boot with the Crows' Joos Van Eeuwijk. Admittedly, five of his seven goals came early in the 7-0 drubbing of troubled Chilean III.6 side CD Barcelota in the second round, but this took little away from a breakout goal-a-game season for the Dutchman. On the personnel front, new boss Sazwan bin Hj Muhd Salleh spent selectively in laying out just over five million for Swiss winger Etienne Binder and Macedonian forward Minür Nurettin Tütsü in the lead-up to the cup semifinals, and while they have yet to fully convince, Sazwan has pledged to give them sufficient time to try and convince him that they deserve a place. With new defenders Ghanem Ben Mimoun and Stef Vreys having established themselves as first-teamers moreover with eight and six goals respectively, this has been the most solid that International have looked at the back for awhile!

It was another dreary league commitment with International recording thirteen straight wins after their initial 1-1 draw against main rivals FC Inter Ottnang, which included a 7-2 away thumping in the reverse fixture to decide the title. While this was not even enough to secure automatic promotion to Division Four, the team would do the necessary in their qualifier against Faroese side Vikings Capricorns, winning 5-3 with Danelyan and Bezhanishvili finding the winners early on in extra time. This won International a promotion to IV.42, where they will encounter a fresh challenge - with ambitions to rise as quickly as possible.