Firdaus Kassim
Firdaus Kassim is a former Singaporean youth footballer and professional football coach. Firdaus, who began coaching Thai League outfit Chainat Hornbill Football Club at the start of 2016 as assistant coach, is believed to be the first Singaporean to hold such a role in Thailand. A rising coach, he is set to assist national head coach V. Sundramoorthy on the upcoming AFF Suzuki Cup campaign along with assistant head coach Fandi Ahmad.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Firdaus Bin Mohamed Kassim[1] | ||
Date of birth | 7 July 1987 | ||
Place of birth | Singapore | ||
Teams managed | |||
FAS Junior Centres of Excellence[2] | |||
2014 | NFA U-14 (assistant coach) | ||
2015 | Hougang United U-18 (head coach) | ||
2016–2017 | Chainat Hornbill (assistant coach) | ||
2016 | Singapore (assistant coach) | ||
2018 | Muangthong United (fitness coach) | ||
2018-2019 | Laos (assistant coach) | ||
2015 | Hougang United FC (assistant coach) |
Early life
Firdaus started his youth career at Sengkang Marine and later on played for Paya Lebar Punggol, before moving on to play for Geylang United in the Prime League. An injury sustained in a training ground challenge, ended his playing career and he then embarked onto a coaching career.
Coaching career
At a very young age, Firdaus was already entrusted to coach the NFA-U14. His last stint in coaching youth football was with Hougang United-U18 in 2015. After completing his AFC ‘A’ License, he was offered to be the assistant coach of Thai Premier League side, Chainat Hornbill FC. He won the 2016 Thai FA Cup but saw Chainat relegated after a premature end to the season with 3 rounds remaining - due to the death of Thai King, Bhumipol Adulyadej.
He stayed on for another season and won the promotion back to the top tier by winning the 2017 Thai League 2 and was subsequently given a new 3-year contract.
At the age of 28, Firdaus became the youngest coach to lead a Thai team in the 2016 Thai Premier League, when he was appointed interim head coach in an away defeat to local rivals Suphanburi FC. He was again seen taking match day duties in the 2017 Thai League 2 leading Chainat to consecutive victories over Air Force Central FC, Lampang FC and PTT Rayong.
Firdaus also served as assistant coach of Singapore National Team in the AFF Suzuki Cup.
References
- "FIRDAUS BIN MOHAMED KASSIM". Sport Singapore. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
- Osman, Shamir (11 January 2016). "Little-known Firdaus to coach Thai club Chainat". The New Paper. Retrieved 2016-10-30.