V. Selvaraj (born 16 December 1970) is a former

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and a current football coach.

Playing career

Club career

Selvaraj played for n the

S.League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), which r ...

, and also played for

. He also played for in 1994, the last season the Singapore team participated in the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup, winning the Malaysia Cup final that year. In 1994, Selvaraj played for

Singapore Lions Singapore FA was a representative team of footballers representing the Football Association of Singapore in domestic competitions run by the Football Association of Malaysia. This is separate from the Singapore national team. As it permits ...

as a striker in the

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 ...

. On 30 December, he scored his first goal for Singapore against

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

. In 1996, Selvaraj joined

SAFFC Warriors Football Club is a Singaporean professional football club that played in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. Before changing their name on 20 January 2013, they were previously known as the Singapo ...

as a forward. From 1999, he was dropped behind and played as a defensive midfielder, defending and initiating attacks. In 2002, Selvaraj left

Jurong FC Jurong Football Club was a professional football club, based in the Jurong area of Singapore. The club played in S.League, the top division of football in Singapore from 1997 to 2003. The team's best league finishes in this period were fifth pl ...

and rejoined SAF Warriors. In 2004, Selvaraj considered retirement from football but extended for another year after speaking with Warriors' manager, Kok Wai Leong, and coach,

Kim Poulsen Kim Poulsen (born 22 March 1959) is a Danish football manager and former amateur player was most recently manager of the Tanzania national football team. Managerial career Early career Poulsen only played amateur football as an active player.

Coaching career

Selvaraj started his coaching career at

after his retirement from playing in 2005, progressing through the coaching ranks until he becomes the head coach of the club, now renamed as Warriors FC, at the start of the 2013 S.League season. He only lasted half a season as head coach, resigning in early June that year due to poor performances of the club in the league and elimination from all cup tournaments. From 2015 to 2016, Selvaraj coached the NFA U15, who are taking part in AFF Championship, Lion City Cup and AFC Qualifiers. Selvaraj returned to S.League in 2017, taking helm of

Garena Young Lions Young Lions Football Club, commonly known as Young Lions, is a Singaporean developmental football club that competes in the Singapore Premier League. The team is under the direct control of the Football Association of Singapore. The Young Lions ...

. However he resigned in May due to family reasons and was replaced by

Richard Tardy Richard Francis Emile Tardy (born 29 July 1950) is a French former professional football player and manager. He led several clubs and national teams as a coach. Career Tardy has managed in the Superleague Greece with Aris Thessaloniki F.C., a ...

. In October 2018, Selvaraj became the coach of Laos' age-group national teams and also assisted

V. Sundramoorthy Varadaraju Sundramoorthy ( ta, வரதராஜு சுந்தரமூர்த்தி; born 6 October 1965) is a former Singaporean international footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s, is widely touted as one of the country's mo ...

in managing the

Laos national football team The Laos national football team ( lo, ທິມຊາດ ບານເຕະ ແຫ່ງຊາດ ລາວ; french: Équipe du Laos de football) is the men's national football team that represents the Lao People's Democratic Republic. It is ...

. In October 2021, Selvaraj took over the senior team's head coach position from Sundramoorthy while Sundramoorthy became the Technical Director of the team.

Honours

Singapore Lions

: 1994

SAFFC

* S.League :1996, 1997, 1998, 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 ...

: 1997, 1998

References

External links

Profile
at Goal.com
Interview
at Warriors FC Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Selvaraj, V. 1969 births Singaporean footballers Singapore international footballers Singaporean people of Tamil descent Singaporean sportspeople of Indian descent Living people Singaporean football managers Singapore FA players Singapore Premier League head coaches Warriors FC head coaches Warriors FC players Singapore Premier League players Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in football Association football forwards Competitors at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games Singaporean expatriate football managers Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Laos Expatriate football managers in Laos