Varadaraju Sundramoorthy ( ta, வரதராஜு சுந்தரமூர்த்தி; born 6 October 1965) 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 ...

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played in the 1980s and 1990s, is widely touted as one of the country's most skilful and talented footballers ever. He is the current technical director of 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 ...

. He coached the LionsXII, a Singapore-based team playing in the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

, and held a dual appointment as the head coach of the Under-23 team from 2011 to 2013 when he announced his plans to sign with the Malaysian Premier League team, Negeri Sembilan. After coaching Negeri Sembilan for half a season in 2014, he returned to Singapore to take the helm at Tampines Rovers for almost 2 years, then a 2-year stint as head coach of Singapore.

Football career

Sundramoorthy broke into the Singapore-Malaysia Cup team in 1983 at just 18 years of age and in the following season, he became top scorer in the tournament.

Playing in Europe

In 1988, Sundramoorthy became the second player from Singapore to play in Europe when he signed for

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

club

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss football club based in Basel, in the Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been Swiss national champions 20 times, Swiss Cup winners 13 times, and ...

. He played there during the second half of their 1987–88 season (the season that Basel suffered relegation) under head coach

Urs Siegenthaler Urs Siegenthaler (born 23 November 1947) is a former Swiss footballer, turned manager. Since 13 May 2005 he is Chiefscout and Analyser for the Germany national team. Playing career Born in Basel, Siegenthaler started his football with local te ...

. After playing in eight test games, he played his first match in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

in an away game on 20 March 1988 against

Bulle Bulle (; frp, Bulo ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly independent municipality of La Tour-de-Trême. History Ancient times Bulle is first ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the same game as Basel won 0–2. He played solely five league games, in which scored three goals. He was released to

Old Boys The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils of primary and secondary schools.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are ...

at the end of the season. He then joined

Kedah FA Kedah Darul Aman Football Club ( ms, Kelab Bola Sepak Kedah Darul Aman) is a football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah, that competes in the Malaysia Super League. They are the only team in the history of Malaysian football to have won two tr ...

for 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 ...

tournament as he returned in 1989. During his playing days in

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Jawi: الور ستار, Kedahan: ''Loqstaq'') is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia ...

playing his trade for

, Sundramoorthy helped Kedah to defeat

3–1 in the final of the 1990 Malaysia Cup, scoring Kedah's opening goal. During Singapore's run-up to the 1993 Malaysia Cup Final appearance, Sundramoorthy was one of the most influential players in the team. He was a player well known for his dribbling skills and his finishing. One of Sundramoorthy's most famous goals was a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

scored against Brunei in a 1993 FAM Division II League tie at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

. He also scored a spectacular backheel during his days with

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 ...

. In a match against Pahang that same year, Sundramoorthy audaciously faked a backheel that fooled the Pahang defenders before crossing for

Fandi Ahmad Fandi bin Ahmad (born 29 May 1962) is a Singaporean professional football manager and former player. During his professional career, he mainly played as a striker, but also played as a midfielder. Along with the Singapore FA, he had also play ...

to score the winner late in the game. In his later days, Sundramoorthy played domestically, first turning out 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 ...

in the league's inaugural year in 1996 before moving on to become the first-ever player-coach in S.League history for Jurong Football Club. Sundramoorthy was nicknamed 'The Dazzler', which was also the name of his autobiography, at the height of his prowess and 'King Cobra' when he was at Jurong.

International career

Sundramoorthy made several appearances for the

Singapore national football team The Singapore national football team (, zh, 新加坡國家足球隊, ta, சிங்கப்பூர் தேசிய கால்பந்து அணி ) represents the Republic of Singapore in the senior men's international footb ...

, including at the

1990 Asian Games The 1990 Asian Games also known as the XI Asiad and the 11th Asian Games ( zh, c=第十一届亚洲运动会, p=Dì shíyī jiè yàzhōu yùndònghuì), were held from September 22 to October 7, 1990, in Beijing, China. This was the first Asian Ga ...

when he scored a hat-trick against Pakistan. Sundramoorthy also represented Singapore in several

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 ...

and helped the Lions reach the final in 1989 when his last-minute through ball led to Fandi Ahmad's winner against Indonesia. He was one of the most feared Southeast Asian strikers the 1980s and early 1990s.

Coaching career

Since 2012 Sundramoorthy has been the head coach of the LionsXII, who played in the

Malaysian Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malaysi ...

. In his first season in charge he led the LionsXII to 2nd place in the Malaysia Super League and the semi-finals of the

. On 21 January 2013, it was announced that Sundramoorthy would be appointed caretaker coach of the

while the

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of As ...

searched for a replacement for former coach Raddy Avramovic. His first game in charge was against

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

on 6 February 2013 at Singapore's

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a association football, football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that i ...

. On 15 May 2013, German coach

Bernd Stange Bernd Walter Stange (born 14 March 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Syria national team. During his playing career, he played for Chemie Gnaschwitz, Vorwärts Bautzen, and HSG DHfK Leipzig as a defender. Playing caree ...

was announced as the new manager of the

while Sundramoorthy was appointed as the head coach of the

Singapore national under-23 football team The Singapore national under-23 football team is the national under-23 association football team of Singapore. The team comes under the organisation of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Players are mostly selected from the S.League ...

for the 2013 SEA Games.

Aide Iskandar Aide Iskandar bin Sahak (born 28 May 1975) is a former professional footballer. He was a member of the Singapore national team which won the ASEAN Football Championship in 1998, 2004 and 2007, captaining the team in the latter two editions. ...

was named as his assistant. On 7 October 2013, Sundramoorthy announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the Football Association of Singapore to coach the Lions XII Malaysian Super League Outfit. He took over as head coach at

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League ( ms, Liga Premier) was the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia. The league replaced the former second-tier league, Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier Leagu ...

side

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

on a two-year contract from 1 November 2013. After finishing sixth in the

2014 Malaysia Premier League The 2014 Liga Premier ( en, 2014 Premier League), also known as the Astro Liga Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the ninth season of the Liga Premier, the second-tier professional association football, football league in Malaysia.http://www.rsss ...

and failing to qualify for the

, Sundramoorthy was relieved of his duties by Negeri Sembilan. In December 2014, Sundramoorthy was confirmed as the new head coach of the

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 ...

. This was the first time after 5 years that he held the head coach post in the S.League. Sundramoorthy was unveiled as the head coach of the Singapore national football team in May 2016, on a one-year contract. He extended his contract as the Lions head coach for two more years in March 2017. However, one year later, he stepped down from his role by mutual consent on 9 April 2018. In October 2018, Sundramoorthy became the head coach of the

. He was joined by V. Selvaraj who managed Laos' youth teams and also assisting him in the senior team. In October 2021, Sundramoorthy became the Technical Director of the team while Selvaraj took over his head coach position.

Honours

Player

Kedah *

: 1990

Manager

LionsXII *

: 2013

References

External links

V. Sundramoorthy Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundramoorthy, V 1965 births Singaporean people of Indian descent Living people Singaporean footballers Singaporean sportspeople of Indian descent Singaporean expatriate footballers Singapore international footballers Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Expatriate footballers in Switzerland FC Basel players BSC Old Boys players Kelantan FA players Singapore FA players Kedah Darul Aman F.C. players Sri Pahang FC players Jurong FC players Singaporean Hindus Singaporean people of Tamil descent Association football midfielders Association football forwards LionsXII head coaches Singapore Premier League head coaches Jurong FC head coaches Singapore Premier League players Young Lions FC head coaches Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Southeast Asian Games silver medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for Singapore Southeast Asian Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1983 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1985 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1989 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1991 Southeast Asian Games Competitors at the 1993 Southeast Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Singapore Singaporean football managers Singaporean expatriate football managers Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Laos Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Laos national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Laos