Singaporean footballer
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 an AFC Pro Diploma Coaching Certificate license.
Club career
Jurong Town
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]
Trials at FC Nitra
Along with Rafi Ali and Sanizal Jamil, he was sent for a two-month training stint with Slovakian club FC Nitra under the Goh Chok Tong Talent Scheme in 1990.[10][11]
Balestier United
Nazri 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]
Singapore FA
In February 1994, Nazri signed a two-year contract with the Singapore FA[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.
Sembawang Rangers
Nazri played for Sembawang Rangers in the inaugural 1996 S.League season.
SAFFC
In 1997, Nazri signed for SAFFC the following year. He won the S.League in 1997 and 1998. After club captain Fandi Ahmad retired from football and became SAFFC head coach, Nazri became the club captain from the 2000 season onwards where he won the league title in his first season as captain.
Tampines Rovers
In 2002, Nazri signed for Tampines Rovers where he played as a central defender,[15] winning the league in 2004 and 2005 as club captain.
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 1993 Merdeka Tournament in February 1993.[18]
However, in the 1999 Dunhill Cup held in Vietnam, Nazri scored a late 86th-minute goal against Russia which would have secured the win until teammate Mohd Noor Ali scored an own goal in the very last minute of the match.[19]
On 7 February 2002, Nazri scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over North Korea. On 21 May 2002, he captained Singapore in the friendly match against Uruguay in a 2–1 lost.
On 9 August 1999 which technically fall on Singapore national day, as the score was at 1–1 against causeway rivals Malaysia, Nazri scored the winning goal in the 90+5 injury stoppage time goal to secure the win in a friendly match.
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.[20]
Coaching career
After retiring as a player, Nazri was appointed as the general manager at former club Tampines Rovers.[21] 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.[22] 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.[23] 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[24]) 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.[25] He has six brothers and four sisters.[26] His older brother, Amin, is a former Singapore international defender and current Hougang United coach.[27]
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.[26]
Nazri married air stewardess Sharifah Nur Leila on 27 November 1994.[28] His sons, Adam and Amer Hakeem, play under the National Football Academy set-up as centre-backs.[29][30]
International statistics
International goals
Honours
Club
Jurong Town
Singapore Lions
Singapore Armed Forces
Tampines Rovers
International
Singapore
Individual
- S.League People's Choice Award: 2004
See also
References
External links
