Navin Neil Vanu (born Navin Nigel Vanu, 11 August 1989) is a Singaporean footballer who last played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Woodlands Wellington FC Woodlands Wellington Football Club is an inactive professional football club which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. They are based in Woodlands at the 4,300 seater Woodlands Stadium, where they have played since ...

. Apart from playing as a forward, he can also operate effectively as a winger.

Club career

Having played for

Geylang United Geylang International Football Club is a professional football club based in Bedok, Singapore, which plays in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was founded in 1973 with the purpose of building a s ...

and

Woodlands Wellington Woodlands Wellington Football Club is an inactive professional association football, football club which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. They are based in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands at the 4,300 seater Woo ...

in his youth, Neil was promoted to the senior squad of the

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)Slobodan Pavković Slobodan Pavković (, ; born 24 October 1955) is a Serbian former football manager and player. Club career Born in Novi Sad, Pavković started out at his hometown club Vojvodina, making his Yugoslav First League debut in 1974. He helped the team ...

, the coach of the Singapore Under-23 squad and he was soon drafted into the Young Lions in the midst of the 2011 season in preparation for the

2011 Southeast Asian Games The 2011 Southeast Asian Games, ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 2011) officially known as the 26th Southeast Asian Games, or the 26th SEA Games, and commonly known as Jakarta-Palembang 2011, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held from ...

held in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

later that year. However, his appearances were limited as he found it hard to break through the squad. In June 2012, it was announced that Neil Vanu would return to his former club,

, during the mid-season transfer window and will be assigned the number 34 jersey. On 21 June 2012, Neil made his re-debut for

Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to: * Woodland, a low-density forest Geography Australia * Woodlands, New South Wales * Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper * Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...

in a match against

. On 23 November 2012, it was announced by

that he would not be retained for the 2013 season.

Club career statistics

Navin Neil Vanu's Profile
:All numbers encased in brackets signify substitute appearances.

International career

Neil is probably most remembered for being sent off in the Singapore Under-23 team's

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with supe ...

Group A match against

. He got a red card in the 23rd minute of the match after picking up his second yellow for hitting an Indonesian player while they were tussling for the ball. He has since apologised publicly for the incident. Neil also left a huge impression by coming on as a substitute against

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

and scoring the winner in the 74th minute of the match with a firm header off Yasir Hanapi's cross.

International appearances for U23 teams

International goals

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanu, Nigel 1989 births Living people Singaporean men's footballers Woodlands Wellington FC players Singapore Premier League players Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean sportspeople of Indian descent Men's association football forwards Young Lions FC players