V. Saravanan (born 11 January 1978) is a former 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. He currently works as an assistant coach for

Perak FC Perak Football Club or Perak F.C. is a professional 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 football competitions ...

since 5 January 2023.

Career

Saravanan spent the majority of his football career at Perak FA, winning two

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 ...

in 1998 and 2000. He also played for

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 ...

, UPB-MyTeam FC,

ATM FA Armed Forces Football Club, commonly known as Armed Forces, enters a team in Malaysian football competitions to represent the Malaysian Armed Forces. The club's home stadium is the Mindef Stadium. The club currently plays in the 3rd division of ...

and

PKNS FC Selangor Football Club II ( Malay: ''Kelab Bola Sepak Selangor 2''), commonly referred to as Selangor F.C. II, is a professional Malaysian football reserve team club of Selangor F.C., based in Shah Alam, in the state of Selangor. The club ...

. Saravanan also represented Malaysia 19 times from 1999 to 2004. His only international goals was against Thailand in a 2004 friendly match. Early on in his career, he was in the

Malaysia national under-21 football team Malaysia national under-22 football team (also known as Malaysia Under-22, Malaysia U-22 or Malaysia B-22) represents Malaysia in international football competitions including in the SEA Games of the 2017 edition. It is managed by the Footbal ...

that competes in the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

, held in Malaysia. He retired from professional football at the end of 2011 to move with his girlfriend to Finland. In 2021, he obtained his UEFA A license and was a physical education instructor in Pajulahti, Finland. He is fluent in Finnish, English, Malay and Tamil. Prior to moving to Malaysia, he was a football coach for Helsinki Football Club (HJK) in Helsinki, Finland, in 2019 and served IF GNISTAN between 2012 and 2018.

Personal life

He married his long-time girlfriend, Satu Johanna Ekholm, who is a physiotherapist from Finland working with the National Sports Council of Malaysia. They have a son.

International goals

References

External links

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Profile at Laman Web Peminat Bolasepak Perak Darul Ridzuan
Malaysian men's footballers Malaysia men's international footballers Perak F.C. players Selangor F.C. Under-23 players Living people 1978 births Footballers from Johor Malaysian people of Tamil descent Malaysian sportspeople of Indian descent Men's association football forwards {{Malaysia-footy-bio-stub