Au Yeong Pak Kuan

Au-Yeong Pak Kuan (, born 24 August 1960) is a Singaporean former footballer and team captain for the Singapore national football team, for which he made more than 80 appearances. He was nominated by the Football Association of Singapore for the Singapore National Olympic Council's meritorious award, was the recipient of a Football Association of Singapore overseas scholarship studies award and also captained Singapore at the 1984 Asian Cup.

Early life Au Yeong studied in Raffles Institution, Singapore Polytechnic He however continued playing at club level for Jurong FC (formerly known as Jurong Town FC) in the FAS Premier League, an inaugural semi professional league, in Singapore where they won the President's Cup and Singapore Pool's Cup in 1989 and finished runners-up to Geylang International in the league in 1989 and 1990. In 1991, at the age of 30, Au Yeong subsequently retired from football in Singapore.

International career Au Yeong was recruited to the national team by Jita Singh in 1979 and made his international debut for Singapore FA in friendly match against the South Korea national football team in the same year. He captained the Singapore national football team from 1981 to 1985 amassing more than 80 caps and 16 goals in total for the country from 1979 to 1989 tournaments. Au Yeong participated in the following tournaments.

FIFA World Cup Qualifying Tournament (AFC)

o 1982 (group stage)

o 1986 (group stage)

o 1990 (group stage)

Summer Olympic Qualifying Tournament (Asia Qualifying)

o 1980 (final round group 3 runners up to Iran)

o 1984 (group stage)

AFC Asian Cup

o 1984 (Singapore)

South East Asian (SEA) Games

o 1979 (Jakarta - group stage)

o 1981 (Manila - 4th place)

o 1983 (Singapore - Silver Medalist)

o 1989 (Kuala Lumpur - Silver Medalist)

Malaysia Cup

o 1980 (League runners-up and Cup champions)

o 1981 (League champions and Cup runners-up)

o 1985 (League champions and Cup quarterfinalist)

Au Yeong also participated in numerous other regional tournaments in Asia including the Merdeka Cup (Malaysia), Merlion Cup & Ovaltine Cup (Singapore), King's Cup (Thailand), The Great Wall Cup (China) and Kirin Cup (Japan).

Au Yeong was often referred to as Captain Courageous, with a report of the Singapore Monitor praising him for his hallmark leadership, motivation and communication skills on the field well acknowledged by the football fraternity. He was also nicknamed "The Utility Man" as he was able to play in any position comfortably.

Personal life Au Yeong is married to Karin Hörburger, an Austrian from Bregenzerwald, Vorarlberg who worked at the Austrian High Commission in Singapore. They met shortly after Karin arrived in Singapore for her foreign assignment in February 1990 and were married in November 1991. Together they have two sons, Alexander and Daniel and a daughter, Serena. The family migrated to Vorarlberg, Austria in 2009.