Nazri Nasir

Mohamed Nazri bin Nasir (born 17 January 1971) is a Singaporean professional football manager and former footballer. He was the captain of the Singapore national team from 1997 to 2003, and led the team to the 1998 AFF Championship title. He is currently the head coach of Singapore Premier League club Tampines Rovers.

He was a defensive midfielder known for his "combative, hard-running and ferocious tackling style".

Trials at FC Nitra Along with Rafi Ali and Sanizal Jamil, he was sent for a two-month training stint with Slovak club FC Nitra under the Goh Chok Tong Talent Scheme in 1990.

Balestier United Nazri rejected an offer of a professional contract from FC Nitra and signed for Balestier United in 1991 on a two-year deal worth S$10,000 per year. which went on to achieve the Malaysian League and Malaysia Cup double that year. Following the withdrawal of the team from Malaysian competitions and the upcoming Southeast Asian Games, the FAS decided to enter the Lions in the 1995 Premier League pending the formation of Singapore's S.League. The team went the season unbeaten as they finished winners.

Sembawang Rangers Nazri played for Sembawang Rangers in the inaugural 1996 S.League season.

SAFFC In 1997, Nazri signed for SAFFC the following year. He won the S.League in 1997 and 1998. After club captain Fandi Ahmad retired from football and became SAFFC head coach, Nazri became the club captain from the 2000 season onwards where he won the league title in his first season as captain.

Tampines Rovers In 2002, Nazri signed for Tampines Rovers where he played as a central defender, winning the league in 2004 and 2005 as club captain.

Nazri retired as a player at the age of 37 in 2008.

International career

Nazri made his international debut against Malaysia on 13 September 1990. He began retraining five weeks later but did not recover sufficiently to play in the 1993 Merdeka Tournament in February 1993.

However, in the 1999 Dunhill Cup held in Vietnam, Nazri scored a late 86th-minute goal against Russia which would have secured the win until teammate Mohd Noor Ali scored an own goal in the very last minute of the match.

On 7 February 2002, Nazri scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win over North Korea. On 21 May 2002, he captained Singapore in the friendly match against Uruguay in a 2–1 lost.

On 9 August 1999 which technically fall on Singapore national day, as the score was at 1–1 against causeway rivals Malaysia, Nazri scored the winning goal in the 90+5 injury stoppage time goal to secure the win in a friendly match.

Nazri took over the captaincy in 1997 and skippered Singapore to the 1998 AFF Championship title. He was inducted into the FIFA Century Club in June 2007.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Nazri was appointed as the general manager at former club Tampines Rovers. He then take on a role as a coach of the National Football Academy U-15 teams that participated in the 2012 and 2013 Lion City Cup.

On 16 December 2013, he was confirmed as assistant to the LionsXII head coach and former Singapore Lions teammate Fandi Ahmad for the upcoming 2014 Malaysia Super League season. He then joined Fandi again, as his assistant coach for the newly revamp 2018 Singapore Premier League season.

On 7 March, 2019, Nazri was appointed as interim head coach of the Singapore national team for the 2019 Airmarine Cup friendly tournament on 20 and 23 March. With the team, he won the semi-final match against Malaysia 1–0 before losing in the final to Oman 4–5 on penalties, having tied 1–1 in normal time.

On 12 July 2023, Nazri lead the Under-22s for the 2024 AFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification qualifiers in September. This will also be implemented as the FAS shared that Nazri is set to have his provisional squad report for centralised training on 21 August 2023, with changes made to the SPL fixtures to allow the team to have uninterrupted 14-day pre-competition preparation time before they leave for Vietnam. Eventually Nazri was unable to helped the U-23 team qualify to the final tournament.

On 29 November 2024, Nazri saw himself getting a red card for the first time as a head coach during the league match between Young Lions and Albirex Niigata (S).

On 19 January 2025, Nazri was given an opportunity with a Japanese club for coaching attachment stint where on 15 May, he became the assistant coach of J2 League club Ventforet Kofu working under head coach Shinji Otsuka.

Personal life

Nazri was born to father, Nasir Ahmad (d. December 1993, aged 69 ) and mother, Aisha Abdullah. He credits his mother for supporting his football career despite him having asthma at eight years old and poor grades in his studies. He has six brothers and four sisters. His older brother, Amin, is a former Singapore international defender and current Hougang United coach.

He completed his primary education at Sembawang Primary School and secondary education at Si Ling Secondary School. He graduated with a NTC 2 certificate in architectural draughting from McNair Vocational Institute.

International statistics

International goals

Managerial statistics

Honours

As player Jurong Town President's Cup: 1988, 1989

Singapore Lions M.League: 1994 Malaysia Cup: 1994

Singapore Armed Forces S.League: 1997, 1998, 2000 Singapore Cup: 1997, 1999

Tampines Rovers S.League: 2004, 2005 Singapore Cup: 2002, 2004, 2006

International Singapore ASEAN Football Championship: 1998

Individual S.League People's Choice Award: 2004 S.League Player of the Year: 1997