Background and career
Aleksandar Đurić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Ђурић; born 12 August 1970) is a football coach and former player who is the principal for Sport Singapore and the ActiveSG Football Academy. A prolific striker, Ðurić was noted for his strong physical presence. His approach to fitness and a disciplined lifestyle contributed to extending a career spanning over three decades.
Đurić was a junior kayaking champion of Yugoslavia when he was 15 and was ranked 8th in the world at 17. He represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the C-1 500m canoeing event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. After the Olympics, he returned to Hungary to resume his football career. In 1999, he signed for Tanjong Pagar United in the S.League where he was converted to a striker for the first time in his career. He won trophies with subsequent clubs Home United, Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces and Tampines Rovers. He won eight league titles and three Singapore Cups in 15 seasons, amassing three Player of the Year and four top scorer awards on the way to becoming the league's all-time top scorer.
At international level, he debuted for Singapore at the age of 37 in 2007. He became the first foreign-born player to captain Singapore in May 2008. He was included in the Singapore squad for the AFF Championship in 2008, 2010, and 2012, the latter of which Singapore won. He retired from international football in December 2012 with a record of 24 goals in 53 matches. He was named the IFFHS World's Best Goal Scorer of the Decade for 2001 to 2010.
In November 2014, Ðurić retired from his playing career at the age of 44. After retiring from professional football, he played in the Singapore Cosmopolitan Football League, a top amateur league in Singapore.
