Pride of the Lions

Text: Vivien Yap | Photos: Gavin Lee, Football Association of Singapore

With Gavin Lee at the helm as interim coach, Singapore’s national football team made history in November 2025 by qualifying for the Asian Cup on merit for the first time. Just over a week later, he was appointed head coach of the Lions, making him the first permanent local coach since 2018.

Despite achieving all this at a relatively young age, football has been a big part of Gavin’s life since he could lace up his boots.

Meeting the press as the head coach for Singapore’s national team.

Growing up with football

Football found Gavin early, mostly thanks to his dad.

“As a football coach himself, my father was always harder on me than on anybody else,” he says.

With his father, Lawrence Lee.

He continued playing through secondary school and junior college, chasing a childhood dream of playing for the national team. Eventually, he turned to coaching.

“I started coaching teams of different age groups when I was a teenager,” he says. “I worked incredibly long hours, from morning till night, on weekdays and weekends.” 

At NTU’s National Institute of Education, he studied Sport Science & Management, drawn to a programme that would deepen his knowledge of sports and athletic performance.

Full-time coach, part-time student

Gavin describes his four years on campus as being a full-time coach and part-time student. “I was in school for lectures and tutorials, and did my assignments before heading off to coach,” he says. “I wasn’t there for the hangouts. It was a lot of travelling between school, work and home.”

Gavin (second from left) graduating with his batchmates from the National Institute of Education in 2015.

Gavin fitted his studies around a schedule built for the field, rather than the other way around. The flexibility to choose his own class timings made this balancing act possible. He also credits the courses he took with deepening his understanding of coaching. 

“My classes let me explore how the human body works and how it performs in sports,” he says. “Courses on critical thinking and psychology also gave me an edge in terms helps when I am coaching a team.”

The making of a coach

After graduating in 2015, Gavin went straight into full-time coaching, first at a private football academy and then as head coach of Tampines Rovers in 2019. At the time, he was the youngest head coach in the Singapore Premier League. He led the team to the Singapore Cup that same season.

“I’ve realised that once the whistle goes, nothing is in your control,” he says, reflecting on his earlier days as a coach. “A mantra we have is to control what you can. When I was younger, I’d stay in a negative headspace longer. Now I’ve learnt to tell myself to move on to the next course of action.”

Most recently, Gavin led the national team to a victory over Hong Kong in the decisive qualifying match for the 2027 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia, securing Singapore’s first appearance in the tournament since 1984. Unlike in 1984, when Singapore qualified automatically as host, this time, the Lions earned their place on merit.

He recalls the stress of the situation – win, and Singapore qualifies; lose, and the team falls short of their dreams of qualifying for the Asian Cup.

Now a familiar name in Singapore football, Gavin reflects on his role with humility. “As the head coach, I’m not the one kicking the ball. I’m just happy and proud to help some of the older players achieve their dreams.”

Outside of the playing season, which adds up to around 40 days a year, Gavin is mostly in the office keeping tabs on Singaporean players based overseas and meeting with other departments.

“People only see the players, but there’s a whole operation behind it,” he says.

Once a coach who measured himself by results, Gavin has also grown to empathise more deeply with his team.

“Ever since I became a father, I can relate better to players who have kids. I know now how sleep-deprived parents can get,” he laughs.

Leaving the lions in a better place

Gavin resists fixed goals, preferring to focus on what is directly in front of him. It is the same instinct that took him from coaching younger players as a teenager to his current role. 

“When I first started as a coach, I couldn’t have imagined leading Singapore’s national team,” he says. “You just have to keep putting in the work. When you do it well, more doors open, so why limit yourself?”

For all the hard work and successes under Gavin’s belt, his ambition for Singapore football is simple: to leave the game and the team in a better place for those who come after him. 

 

This article first appeared in issue 8 of U, the NTU alumni magazine.