Gavin Lee (football coach)

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Gavin Lee
Personal information
Full name Gavin Joshua Lee Tse Peng
Date of birth (1990-09-08) 8 September 1990 (age 35)
Place of birth Singapore
Position Central-midfielder
Team information
Current team
Singapore (head coach)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2012–2014 SCC 0 (0)
Managerial career
2014–2015 Warriors (assistant)
2017–2018 Tampines Rovers (assistant)
2019–2025 Tampines Rovers
2024–2025 Singapore (assistant)
2025 Singapore (interim)
2026– Singapore
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gavin Joshua Lee Tse Peng (born 8 September 1990), better known as Gavin Lee, is a Singaporean professional football coach who is currently the head coach of the Singapore national team. [1]

Contents

Early life

Gavin played for the Tampines under-8s, as well as the under-10s, teams that his father coached at the time.[ citation needed ] Gavin was enrolled in the National Football Academy and also played for the national under-14 team where he played most of his time as a midfielder. [2]

After training alongside Gabriel Quak, Hariss Harun,Izwan Mahbud, Hafiz Abu Sujad, Izzdin Shafiq, Afiq Yunos and Fazli Ayob, Gavin knew he would not be able to keep up. He shared that “It was also at that point that I realised I couldn't cope academically, so I decided to choose a different path” and turned to coaching because his father had been a coach since he was young. [3]

Education

Gavin studied at Victoria School and Victoria Junior College where he captained the school football team for Victoria Junior College. [4] He later studied in Nanyang Technological University and had a degree in Sports Science and Management. [2] While pursuing a degree, Gavin went on to take up to 14 training sessions a week with JSSL Singapore needing to clocked his coaching badges. [5]

As a young football coach, Gavin admitted that a consequence of his daily routines is that he “does not have as many friends as others”. When Gavin was in university, he was often labelled an "old man" as he did not join his peers for suppers and parties and chose to rest early to work the following day.

Club career

Gavin was part of the SCC squad in the Singapore National Football League from 2012 to 2014. He later transitioned into coaching, first as an assistant coach with Warriors, and subsequently as head coach of Tampines Rovers.

Managerial career

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. Gavin joined the JSSL Singapore when he was 18 as a "cone guy" where he coach various age groups at the JSSL Singapore academy before becoming the general manager in 2016. [2]

In June 2011, Gavin was issued an AFC 'C' Coaching License at the age of 21. He then went on to get the AFC 'B' Coaching License in July 2015 before finally getting to the highest achieving license, AFC 'A' Coaching License in January 2020.

Warriors

In 2014, Gavin joined Warriors as their match analyst in their title winning season in 2014 where he got promoted to the assistant coach under Alex Weaver in 2015. Lee left Warriors in October 2015. [2]

Tampines Rovers

In December 2017, Lee joined Tampines Rovers as an assistant coach under head coach Jürgen Raab. [2] In 2019, after head coach Raab was relieved of his duties at Tampines Rovers on 9 October 2018, [6] Gavin was appointed as head coach despite lacking the required Asian Football Confederation 'A' License to become the head coach. [2] [7] The appointment was based on his past performance as Warriors' assistant coach and impressed Tampines Rovers' staff and players with his knowledge. [2] He was then the youngest head coach in the history of the Singapore Premier League. [8]

Gavin led the club to second place in the Singapore Premier League (SPL) and won the 2019 Singapore Cup in his first season in charge. [1] Tampines Rovers placed second in the SPL again in his second year at the head of the team. [9]

During the 2021 season, Gavin led the team to their first ever AFC Champions League debut in Tashkent, Uzbekistan which they are drawn in Group H with 2020 K League 1 champions and 2020 Korean FA Cup winners, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, 2020 J1 League runners-up, Gamba Osaka and Thailand Chiangrai United. On 16 June, Lee has extended his contract until 2024.

On 17 June 2025, Gavin left Tampines Rovers after eight years in charge of the club. [10]

Singapore

On 7 March 2024, Gavin was invited to be part of the backroom staff of the Singapore national team by newly appointed Japanese head coach Tsutomu Ogura for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification match against China. [11] On 11 June 2024, Gavin was appointed in charge of the national team against Thailand after Ogura tested positive for COVID-19 and was isolated from the team. [12]

On 24 June 2025, Ogura stepped down as the national team head coach, due to personal reasons. FAS decided to appoint Lee as the interim coach. [13] Under Gavin's leadership, Singapore completed their remaining 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers strongly, drawing 1–1 at home against India, then winning 2–1 away in the return match. [14] They followed this with a decisive 2–1 away victory over Hong Kong, securing qualification for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. It was Singapore’s first qualification achieved on merit through a full campaign and their first tournament appearance since 1984. [15]

On 28 November 2025, following their success in the qualification to the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, FAS announced Gavin has became the permanent head coach of the Singapore national team on a 18 months contract becoming the first local coach since 2016 to take the helms. [16] [17] [18] [19]

Personal life

Gavin's younger sister Genevieve, who is a 29-year-old doctor, was formerly a youth international footballer for Singapore. Gavin's 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. [20]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 18 November 2025
Managerial record by team and tenure
TeamNat.FromToRecordRef.
GWDLWin %
Tampines Rovers Flag of Singapore.svg 1 January 202017 June 2025154793639051.30
Singapore Flag of Singapore.svg 25 June 2025Present6312050.00
Career Total160823741051.25

Honours

As Manager

Tampines Rovers

References

  1. 1 2 "Tampines Rovers has kept faith in head coach Gavin Lee" . Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Former NTU student breaks barriers in local football league". Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  3. Yah Lah But Podcast (8 October 2025). National Coach of SG Football on What’s Broken & Why There’s Hope for the Lions | Gavin Lee | #725 . Retrieved 19 November 2025 via YouTube.
  4. "Meet Gavin Lee, Singapore's Brightest Coaching Prospect – Part 1: The Journey to Topflight Football".
  5. "Six things to know about Lions coach Gavin Lee". The Straits Times. 28 November 2025. ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  6. "Tampines Rovers relieve Jurgen Raab of his duties | Goal.com". Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  7. "Tampines first-team coach Lee earns respect despite being younger than some players". Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  8. Lee, David (28 August 2025). "Interim S'pore national coach Gavin Lee hopes Lions can make an impact with him at the helm". The Straits Times . ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 3 September 2025.
  9. Kwek, Kimberly (5 December 2020). "Football: Tampines draw 1-1 with Geylang International to finish second in SPL". The Straits Times . ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  10. Ganesan, Deepanraj (17 June 2025). "Singapore Premier League's youngest coach Gavin Lee leaves Tampines Rovers". The Straits Times . ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  11. "Tsutomu Ogura strengthens backroom staff with key coach appointments" . Retrieved 27 March 2024.
  12. Hamzah, Firdaus (10 June 2024). "Singapore head coach Ogura down with COVID-19; assistant Gavin Lee to take charge for Thailand match". CNA. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  13. "FAS announces the departure of Men's National Team Head Coach Tsutomu Ogura". Football Association of Singapore. 24 June 2025.
  14. Sagar, Sunaadh (13 October 2025). "India fail to qualify for Asian Cup as Song Ui-young brace keeps Singapore alive with 2-1 win". ESPN.
  15. Lee, David (18 November 2025). "Singapore secure historic Asian Cup qualification with spirited comeback 2-1 win over Hong Kong". The Straits Times.
  16. "Gavin Lee appointed Singapore Head Coach after leading Lions on historic Asian Cup qualifying campaign - Football Association of Singapore" . Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  17. Ganesan, Deepanraj (28 November 2025). "Gavin Lee aims to 'leave Lions shirt in a better place' after being named permanent national coach". The Straits Times . ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  18. "Why was Gavin Lee chosen as head coach?". CNA. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  19. "Gavin Lee to become Lions head coach, 1st local in last decade". mothership.sg. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
  20. "Six things to know about Lions coach Gavin Lee". The Straits Times. 28 November 2025. ISSN   0585-3923 . Retrieved 28 November 2025.