Chow Kwai Lam (26 August 1942 – 16 July 2018) was a Malaysian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach.

Playing career

Chow played for

Negeri Sembilan FA Negeri Sembilan Football Club is a Malaysian professional football club based in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, that competes in the 2022 edition of the Malaysia Super League. Founded in 1923, the club's home ground Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium. Nege ...

and

Selangor FA Selangor Football Club (Malay: ''Kelab Bola Sepak Selangor''), commonly referred to as Selangor F.C. is a Malaysian professional football club based in the city of Shah Alam, Selangor, that currently competes in the Malaysia Super League, the ...

in his playing career, winning 3

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

s with Selangor, and runners-up in the inaugural 1967 Asian Club Championship also with Selangor, losing to Israel's

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv ( he, הפועל תל אביב) is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, suc ...

in the final. He represented

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

from 1965 to 1971, being made captain of the 1965

Merdeka Tournament Merdeka Tournament or Pestabola Merdeka is a friendly football tournament held in Malaysia to commemorate the Independence Day. The competition bears the Malay word for independence. As of 2022, it has been held 40 times, and decreasingly in r ...

squad, before becoming the national team head coach in 1978.

Coaching career

After the 1978 Malaysia coaching stint, Chow coached his former team

from 1979 to 1983, before moving to coach

Sarawak FA Sarawak FA State Football Team ( ms, Pasukan Bola Sepak Negeri Sarawak) was a defunct football team which represented the Malaysian region (formerly state) of Sarawak from 1974 to 2020 in the Malaysian football league. It was one of the 14 Mal ...

in 1984. He coached

Kuala Lumpur FA Kuala Lumpur City Football Club, known simply as KL City FC, is a Malaysian professional football club based in Kuala Lumpur. The club competes in the Malaysia Super League, the top level of Malaysian football, and was founded in 1974 as Feder ...

in 1989, 1992, 1995, and 1996. In between his Kuala Lumpur stint, he also coached the Malaysia U-23 squad in their unsuccessful mission to qualify for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. He briefly coached

Perak FA Perak Football Club or Perak F.C. is a professional association football, football club based in Ipoh. Founded in 1921, the club's home ground since then has been Perak Stadium in Ipoh, Perak. The club represents the state of Perak in Malaysian ...

in 1999, before coaching in Singapore, first for

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of Singapore football league system. Founded in 1945, the club have won the national league ...

in 2002 until 2003. He later coached Paya Lebar Punggol from December 2004 to June 2005, during which time he was accused of attempted bribery and fined RM114,000, at a court sentence in 2007. He maintains his innocence, as per reported in an interview with Malaysian newspaper

Malay Mail The ''Malay Mail'' is a newspaper in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, first published on 1 December 1896 when Kuala Lumpur was the capital of the then new Federated Malay States, making it the first daily newspaper to appear in the FMS. As of May 2014, ...

in 2014. Until his death, this is the last known club Chow has coached in his career. He won 6 more Malaysia Cups as coach (3 with Selangor and 3 in a row with Kuala Lumpur) in addition of 1 Charity Shield and 1 League championship, both also with Kuala Lumpur. He also won the 2002

Singapore Cup The Singapore Cup is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Singaporean football. Established in 1998, it is the foremost football cup competition in the country. It is open to clubs in the Singapore Premier League. Since ...

with Tampines Rovers in Singapore. He was known in his coaching days as a 'firebrand' and 'fierce coach'.

Death and legacy

Chow died on 16 July 2018 in Ampang Hospital,

Ampang, Selangor Ampang Jaya, more commonly known as just Ampang, is a town, a mukim and a parliamentary constituency straddling parts of the Hulu Langat District and Gombak District, in eastern Selangor, Malaysia. It is located just outside the eastern borde ...

, at the age of 75.

References

1942 births 2018 deaths Malaysian footballers Malaysian people of Cantonese descent Malaysian sportspeople of Chinese descent Malaysia international footballers Malaysia national football team managers Selangor FA players Malaysian football managers Malaysian expatriate football managers Malaysian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Expatriate football managers in Singapore Negeri Sembilan FA players Sarawak FA managers Perak F.C. managers Kuala Lumpur City F.C. managers Tampines Rovers FC head coaches Association football midfielders People from Negeri Sembilan {{Malaysia-footy-bio-stub