Six things to know about Lions coach Gavin Lee

SINGAPORE – On Nov 18, a 35-year-old local football coach achieved what others before him, including revered names like Choo Seng Quee and Radojko Avramovic, could not –

lead the Lions to a historic Asian Cup qualification.

Remarkably, he did it as an interim head coach. On Nov 28, he was appointed national coach on a permanent basis.

Who is this man from Tampines who has achieved a continental breakthrough at a time when Singapore football is in the doldrums?

1. Football runs in the Lee family

Gavin Lee’s younger sister Genevieve, a 29-year-old doctor, was also a youth international footballer.

But the coaching genes are most probably passed down by their father Lawrence, a youth coach who took charge of the Victoria Junior College girls’ team from 2012 to 2025 and led them to 11 straight titles from 2013, excluding the Covid-19 pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

2. He once went up against Zinedine Zidane in a 2-2 draw

In 2007, French World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane was in Chiang Mai to launch adidas’ latest global ad campaign, and played in a match to raise funds for a Thai charity for kids affected by HIV and Aids.

Slotting in at centre-back at just 17, Gavin said of the once-in-a-life-time experience then: “It was very tough containing Zidane. He was already backed up by Thai stars like Kiatisuk ‘Zico’ Senamuang, Tawan Sripan and Therdsak Chaiman.

“On top of that, he himself is a world-class player. It was extremely difficult tracking him as he changes direction so quickly. And he comes up with so many unexpected tricks.”

3. He was a decent youth international footballer

As a central midfielder, Gavin had done well enough to make it to the National Football Academy Under-15 team alongside future senior internationals Hariss Harun, Izwan Mahbud, Hafiz Sujad, Izzdin Shafiq, Afiq Yunos and Fazli Ayob. He also went on to captain Victoria Junior College.

Ironically, it was Hariss, whom he now coaches in the national team, who led to his transition to become a coach. As Gavin said: “The best player of my age group in my position was Hariss, and I was not close to his level, so I knew then I was never going to make it at a high level.”

4. Cone guy, old man

Gavin’s first taste of coaching came at 16 when he followed his dad to his coaching sessions and was in charge of laying out cones. He started coaching various age groups at the JSSL Singapore academy at just 18.

He went on to take up to 14 sessions a week with JSSL while pursuing a sports science degree at Nanyang Technological University as he also clocked his coaching badges. He was nicknamed “old man” for his seemingly anti-social lifestyle.

5. Breakout at Warriors and Tampines

He entered the Singapore Premier League (SPL) – then known as the S.League – first as an intern analyst and then assistant first-team coach under head coach Alex Weaver at Warriors FC in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

After an assistant coach stint with Tampines, Gavin replaced Jurgen Raab, with Kadir Yahaya as Stags adviser, and became the SPL’s youngest head coach at age 28 in 2019, capping his rookie season by leading them to the Singapore Cup.

He became known for Gavin-ball, his style of play which aims to translate possession into purposeful and attacking football.

6. Promotion to national team

Gavin was invited to be part of newly appointed Lions coach Tsutomu Ogura’s backroom team in March 2024. He took charge of the team when they lost 3-1 against Thailand in an away World Cup qualifier in June 2024 when Ogura contracted Covid-19.

A year later, he took over the national team on an interim basis after Ogura stepped down due to personal reasons. On Sept 4, his first game in charge was a 2-1 friendly loss against Malaysia, who fielded players who were later deemed by Fifa to have been naturalised with falsified documents.

Singapore then drew 1-1 with Myanmar in a closed-door friendly six days later before a 1-1 Asian Cup qualifying home draw against India in October.

After the three-game winless start, things started looking up for Gavin and the team when they pulled through with a 2-1 Asian Cup qualifying win in India.

Next came a battling

3-2 loss in Thailand

in November which was followed by a 2-1 win in Hong Kong that sealed historic Asian Cup qualification and the Lions tamer gig on a permanent basis.