Alistair Martin Edwards (born 21 June 1968) is an Australian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player and coach. A prominent forward, he made a name for himself with

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

clubs Sydney Olympic and Perth Glory. He was also a favourite with Malaysian League teams

Sarawak FA Sarawak FA State Football Team () was a football team which represented the Malaysian region (formerly state) of Sarawak from 1974. It was one of the state teams of the Malaysian football structure. The team's home matches used to be played a ...

, Selangor FA, Singapore FA,

Johor FA Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club II (; ) or simply JDT II is a feeder club for Johor Darul Ta'zim. The club set to play in Malaysia A1 Semi-Pro League from 2025–26, the second tier of the Malaysian football league system. Club's names * ...

and

Kedah FA Kedah Darul Aman Football Club () is a professional football club based in Alor Setar, Kedah. The team competes in the Malaysia A1 Semi-Pro League, the second tier of Malaysian football. They are the first team in the history of Malaysian footb ...

in the 1990s. He is currently the chief executive officer at Johor Darul Ta'zim.

Playing career

Youth career

Born in Whyalla, South Australia to Scottish parents, Edwards' family moved to Kwinana when he was a child, where he joined the local junior team before representing

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

in a team that won the 1986 Australian under-18 title. He made a couple of appearances for the state senior side at the age of 17, before attending the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

Rangers

In 1988, Alistair then had a spell with Rangers in Scotland.

Sydney Olympic

In 1989, Alistair moved back to Australia to joined Sydney Olympic in which he scored the winning goal in the 1989–90 National Soccer League grand final against Marconi Stallions to help his club to win the title.

Loan to Brighton & Hove Albion

Alistair performance for Sydney Olympic earns him a loan move to English club, Brighton & Hove Albion for the remainder of the 1989–90 Division Two season.

Singapore FA

After returning from his loan spell at Brighton & Hove Albion, Alistair joined Singapore FA in 1990 where he form a potent partnership with compatriot,

Abbas Saad Abbas Saad (; born 1 December 1967) is a soccer manager and former player. Born in Lebanon, Saad played for the Australia national team. Club career Saad began his playing career in 1985 at Sydney City, before moving to Sydney Olympic. In ...

which resulted to a strong finished in the league and cup, by finishing runners up to Selangor in the Semi-Pro League 1 and runners up in the Cup final in 1990. Alistair also finished as the league top scorer which he won the golden boot with 13 goals.

Johor FA

After a successful spells at Singapore FA, Alistair joined

the following year where in his first season, he guided the club to a domestic double winning both the

1991 Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1 The 1991 Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1 season is the third season of Liga Semi-Pro Divisyen 1.http://www.sinarharian.com.my/sukan/liga-semi-pro-relevan-1.641302 Liga Semi-Pro relevanhttp://www.stadiumastro.com/ms/article/2016/12/30/12-tahun-selepas-lig ...

and the 1991 Malaysia Cup.

Return to Singapore FA

After two successful season at Johor FA, Alistair returned to Singapore FA in 1993.

Selangor FA

In 1994, Alistair joined Selangor FA.

Millwall

Midway in 1994, after four years being in Asia, Alistair was transferred to Millwall ahead of the 1994–95 Division 1 season signing a two years contract.

Return to Sydney Olympic

Alistair briefly rejoined Sydney Olympic in 1996.

Sarawak FA

In 1997, Alistair returned to Malaysia to joined with

. In his first season at the club, he helped them to win the 1997 Liga Perdana.

Perth Glory

In 1998, Alistair returned to Australia to joined Perth Glory for whom he played 93 times and scored 24 goals. At the end of 2004, Alistair announced his retirement from football where In all, he made 173 appearances in the

for the club.

International career

Alistair played for the Australia national team between 1991 and 1997, scoring 3 goals in 19 matches, and also represented Australia at the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Coaching career

Australia Women U-20

In 2004, Alistair was the assistant coach at the 2004 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship in Thailand.

Western Waves

Alistair was then announced as the head coach of the newly created Australian side, Western Waves but limited resources forced them to dissolvement the following year.

Return to Australia Women U-20

Alistair returned to the Australia Women U-20 side and was named the head coach of the Women team at the 2006 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in Malaysia where they qualify for the

2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship The 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship was held in Russia from 17 August to 3 September 2006. It was the officially recognized world championship for women's under-20 national association football teams. Matches were held in four Moscow st ...

held in Russia since joining the AFC.

Football Federation of Australia

From 2006 to 2009, Edwards became the Football Federation of Australia Development and High Performance Consultant where his main tasks included conducting research in Japan, the Netherlands, France and England on Talent Development and Identification as part of the FFA Development Review and to assist in the development of the FFA National Curriculum. Edwards, along with Paul Okon and Alex Tobin was awarded one of the inaugural FFA Elite Coach Development Scholarships in 2008. As part of his scholarship he spent one month in the Netherlands on attachment with

Louis Van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

and Han Westrhoff at Vitesse Arnhem.

Australia Women's

Upon his return, Alistair took the Matildas to the 2008 AFF Women's Championship in Vietnam where they won the tournament. Edwards is also an AFC/FFA Advanced Licence Coach Instructor and conducts Advanced Pathway coaching courses for the FFA. In 2008, Edwards was invited to Cambodia to conduct an Elite Coach Development Course on behalf of the Australian Sports Commission. In August 2009, Edwards was appointed to the position of FFA Assistant Technical Director working alongside Dutchman Han Berger. His dual role at the FFA included the assistant coach role to the Young Socceroos where he worked alongside Jan Verslijen, the head coach of the AIS, U/17 and U/20 national teams.

Perth Glory

In February 2013, Alistair was named the interim manager of Perth Glory after previous manager Ian Ferguson was sacked. Edwards managed his former club for the rest of the 2012–13 A-League season taking them from last position on the table to qualify for the A-League finals. Alistair then was appointed as the permanent head coach of Perth on a three-year deal. On 17 December 2013, Edwards was sacked after a falling out with several players and Perth Glory owner Tony Sage. Senior players, including Jacob Burns, were reportedly upset over being left on the bench due to Alistair' insistence on implementing the club's Western Australia focused youth policy, including usage of his two sons, Cameron and Ryan Edwards, at the expense of other players.

Real Mulia

After working as a football pundit in Singapore, in January 2015, Alistair became the technical director of the Bangi-based team Real Mulia, who play in the 2015 Malaysia's FAM League.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

In January 2016, Alistair, who was himself a former Johor striker in their historic double-winning team of 1991, was appointed as JDT's Sporting Director Johor Darul Ta'zim is a Malaysian-based football outfit that has enjoyed much success coinciding with Alistair's appointment, although it is mostly attributed to its owner, the Crown Prince of Johor, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim. In August 2017, Alistair was reassigned as the club's technical director, responsible for all the developmental teams under the JDT umbrella. In January 2023, Alistair got promoted to the club chief executive officer while Martín Prest will take on his former role.

Post-retirement

Whilst playing for Perth Glory, Edwards graduated with an MBA from Edith Cowan University and also entered Local Government Politics when he was elected onto the Cockburn City Council from 2002 to 2006. Since retiring as a player, Edwards has undertaken a number of roles in sport development. He worked as a Sport Consultant at the Western Australian State Government Department of Sport and Recreation from 2002 to 2005 and has since become heavily involved in the development of football in Australia. He commentated A-League games covered by

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

radio station 90.5fm.

Pundits

In June 2014, Alistair work as a football pundit in Singapore for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

with SingTel Mio TV. In May 2015, Alistair was appointed as the football commentary for Astro Arena until August 2017 where at that time, he was the Sporting Director of Johor Darul Ta'zim.

Personal life

Alistair is married to a Singaporean national where he both son, Ryan Edwards is a professional footballer currently playing for SD Amorebieta in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

while Cameron Edwards is playing for a semi-professional club, Bayswater City His son, Ryan was born in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. Despite having been in the country for around 10 days after his birth, he was called up for national service for Singapore on his 18th birthday.

Honours

Player

'Sydney Olympic *

: 1989–1990 Johor FA * Malaysia League:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

* Malaysia Cup: 1991 Sarawak FA * Malaysia League:

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

Australia *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Individual

* Malaysia League Golden Boot: 1990 (playing for Singapore FA) – 13 goals

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Oz Football profile

Goal for Sydney Olympic in 1989/1990 NSL Grand Final
on YouTube

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Alistair 1968 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Edith Cowan University alumni National Soccer League (Australia) players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Perth Glory FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Singapore FA players Sarawak FA State Football Team players Selangor F.C. players Australian soccer managers Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia People from Whyalla Australian Institute of Sport soccer players Western Australian local councillors Rangers F.C. players Perth Glory FC managers Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Australian expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia 1996 OFC Nations Cup players OFC Nations Cup–winning players Australian people of Scottish descent Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Australian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in England Australian expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Expatriate men's footballers in Singapore Australian expatriate soccer managers Expatriate football managers in Malaysia Australia men's youth international soccer players English Football League players 20th-century Australian sportsmen