Nazri Nasir

Singaporean footballer

Nazri Nasir
Nazri as assistant coach of the LionsXII
Personal information
Full name Mohamed Nazri bin Nasir
Date of birth (1971-01-17) 17 January 1971 (age 53)[1]
Place of birth Singapore
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Position(s) Defensive midfielder, Centre back
Team information
Current team
 Young Lions (manager) Singapore (assistant manager)
Youth career
1987 Jurong Town[3]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1991 Jurong Town[4]
1991–1992 Balestier United[5] 10 (0)
1992–1994 Police SA
1994–1995 Singapore FA[6] 14 (6)
1996 Sembawang Rangers 24 (1)
1997–2001 Singapore Armed Forces
2002–2008 Tampines Rovers 299 (19)
International career
1990–2004 Singapore 100[7] (12)
Managerial career
2008–2009 Tampines Rovers (general manager)
2012–2013 NFA U-15
2014–2015 LionsXII (assistant coach)
2017–2018 Young Lions (assistant coach)
2018 Singapore (assistant manager)
2019 Singapore (interim)
2020– Singapore U22
2021– Young Lions
2021–2022 Singapore (interim)
2022– Singapore (assistant manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nazri Nasir (born 17 January 1971) is a Singaporean professional football manager and former footballer. He was the captain of the Singapore national team from 1997 to 2003,[8] and led the team to the 1998 AFF Championship title. He is the current coach of Young Lions, Singapore U-23 and serves as an assistant coach of the senior Singapore national team.

He was a defensive midfielder known for his "combative, hard-running and ferocious tackling style".[2]

Nazri had spent most of his time as a head coach that understand the youth development fundamental and their weakness. He holds a AFC Pro Diploma Coaching Certificate license.

Club career

Nazri began his career with Jurong Town in Singapore's FAS Premier League in 1988.[4] where he won the President's Cup in 1988 and 1989.[9] Along with Rafi Ali and Sanizal Jamil, he was sent for a two-month training stint with Czech club FC Nitra under the Goh Chok Tong Talent Scheme in 1990.[10][11] He rejected an offer of a professional contract from FC Nitra[12] and signed for Balestier United in 1991 on a two-year deal worth S$10,000 per year.[5]

In February 1994, Nazri signed a two-year contract with the Singapore Lions[6] which went on to achieve the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup double that year.[13] Following the withdrawal of the team from Malaysian competitions and the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, the FAS decided to enter the Lions in the 1995 Premier League pending the formation of Singapore's S.League.[14] The team went the season unbeaten as they finished winners.

Nazri played for Sembawang Rangers in the inaugural S.League season before signing for Singapore Armed Forces the following year. He won the S.League in 1997, 1998 and 2000 with the club. In 2002, he signed for Tampines Rovers where he played as a central defender,[15] winning the league in 2004 and 2005.

Nazri retired as a player at the age of 37 in 2008.

International career

Nazri made his international debut against Malaysia on 13 September 1990.[7] He was riding his motorbike when he was injured in a road traffic accident on the expressway on 19 November 1992; his backbone and right collarbone were fractured.[16] He began retraining five weeks later[17] but did not recover sufficiently to play in the Merdeka Tournament in February 1993.[18]

Nazri took over the captaincy in 1997 and skippered Singapore to the 1998 ASEAN Football Championship title. He was inducted into the FIFA Century Club in June 2007.[19]

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Nazri was appointed as the general manager at former club Tampines Rovers.[20] He then take on a role as a coach of the National Football Academy U-15 teams that participated in the 2012 and 2013 Lion City Cup.

On 16 December 2013, he was confirmed as assistant to the LionsXII head coach and former Singapore Lions teammate Fandi Ahmad for the upcoming 2014 Malaysia Super League season.[21] He then joined Fandi again, as his assistant coach for the newly revamp 2018 Singapore Premier League season.

Nazri was appointed to interim head coach position of Singapore national team for the 2019 Airmarine Cup friendly tournament on 20 and 23 March 2019.[22] With the team, he won the semifinal match against Malaysia 1-0 before losing in the final to Oman 4–5 on penalties, having tied 1–1 in normal time.

On 12 July 2023, Nazri lead the Under-22s for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification qualifiers in September. This will also be implemented as the FAS shared that Nazri is set to have his provisional squad report for centralised training on 21 August 2023, with changes made to the SPL fixtures to allow the team to have uninterrupted 14-day pre-competition preparation time before they leave for Vietnam. Eventually Nazri was unable to helped the U-23 team qualify to the final tournament.

Personal life

Nazri was born to father, Nasir Ahmad (d. December 1993, aged 69[23]) and mother, Aisha Abdullah. He credits his mother for supporting his football career despite him having asthma at eight years old and poor grades in his studies.[24] He has six brothers and four sisters.[25] His older brother, Amin, is a former Singapore international defender and current Hougang United coach.[26]

He completed his primary education at Sembawang Primary School and secondary education at Si Ling Secondary School. He graduated with a NTC 2 certificate in architectural draughting from McNair Vocational Institute.[25]

Nazri married air stewardess Sharifah Nur Leila on 27 November 1994.[27] His sons, Adam and Amer Hakeem, play under the National Football Academy set-up as centre-backs.[28][29]

Honours

Club

Jurong Town

Singapore Lions

Singapore Armed Forces

Tampines Rovers

International

Singapore

Individual

  • S.League People's Choice Award: 2004

See also

References

  1. ^ "Nazri Nasir's fact file". The Straits Times. 24 July 1990. p. 29.
  2. ^ a b Darren Lai (24 October 2005). "The most successful player of the decade". Today. p. 48.
  3. ^ Hakikat Rai (28 September 1987). "Jurong eager on Suria for League". The Straits Times. p. 27.
  4. ^ a b "Jurong Town Football Club". The Straits Times. 2 January 1988. p. 17.
  5. ^ a b Joe Dorai (1 April 1991). "Balestier secures Nazri's signature". The Straits Times. p. 30.
  6. ^ a b "Nazri accepts two-year deal with the FAS". The Straits Times. 17 February 1994. p. 30.
  7. ^ a b "FIFA Century Club fact sheet" (PDF). FIFA. 12 April 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2013.
  8. ^ "FAS launches FAS Captains' Advisory Panel". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  9. ^ "Jurong pave way for young talent". The Straits Times. 2 January 1990. p. 23.
  10. ^ Joe Dorai (24 July 1990). "FAS select three teenagers for stint with Czech club". The Straits Times. p. 29.
  11. ^ Peter Khoo (9 November 1990). "Czech club Nitra will play hosts to talented teen trio". The Straits Times. p. 39.
  12. ^ Joe Dorai (19 March 1991). "Singapore trio turn down Czech pro offers". The Straits Times. p. 30.
  13. ^ Peter Khoo (18 December 1994). "The perfect end to Singapore's 14-year drought". The Straits Times. p. 40.
  14. ^ Joe Dorai (5 March 1995). "It's official: FAS to keep Lions intact this year". The Straits Times. p. 28.
  15. ^ Jose Raymond (21 November 2001). "Nazri's a Stag". Today. p. 29.
  16. ^ "Footballer Nazri hurt in crash". The Straits Times. 20 November 1992. p. 1.
  17. ^ "Nazri and Borhan doing light workouts". The Straits Times. 5 January 1993. p. 30.
  18. ^ "Borhan, Nazri out". The Straits Times. 12 January 1993. p. 31.
  19. ^ "FIFA Century Club fact sheet" (PDF). FIFA. 12 June 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 March 2014.
  20. ^ "Nazri kicks off new career". Today. 3 January 2008. p. 52.
  21. ^ "Nazri Nasir joins LionsXII as assistant coach". LionsXII. Archived from the original on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  22. ^ "Nazri Nasir to lead Lions in AIRMARINE Cup | Goal.com". Goal.
  23. ^ "Condolences to Nazri, Amin". The Straits Times. 15 December 1993. p. 34.
  24. ^ "Nazri leaves a lasting impression". The Straits Times. 7 April 1991. p. 28.
  25. ^ a b "Nazri provides 'oomph'". The Straits Times. 27 November 1993. p. 8.
  26. ^ "S.League: Beating cancer is his biggest win". The New Paper. 1 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  27. ^ "Nazri meets his match in Sharifah". The Straits Times. 28 November 1994. p. 52.
  28. ^ "Dad cracks whip only on field". The Straits Times. 7 June 2013.
  29. ^ "SSS profile: Amer doesn't want to be the new Nazri". The New Paper. 20 September 2012. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014.

External links

  • Nazri Nasir at National-Football-Teams.com
Sporting positions
Preceded by Singapore national team captain
1997-2003 		Succeeded by
  • v
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Singapore national football team – managers