Robert James Dazo Gier (born 6 January 1981) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player who is the head coach of the Philippines U22 team. As a player, he was mainly a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in England, he progressed through the youth system of

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

, making his debut in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

in October 2000 and played until their final season. He then played for League Two club

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ket ...

until their relegation in 2006. He then played in the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, and

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

with whom he won the 2007–08 Conference Premier title and

Conference League Cup The National League Cup is an annual association football competition in England. The National League Cup is open to clubs playing in the National League and, since its revival in 2024, professional under-21 teams playing in the Premier League 2. ...

. After a brief spell with

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

, he spent the remainder of his career with his hometown club Ascot United in the

Hellenic Football League The Hellenic Football League, currently known as the uhlsport Hellenic Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English men's association football, football league covering an area including the English Counties of the United Kingdom, cou ...

. Eligible to represent the Philippines national team through his mother, Gier made his international debut in 2009. He captained the Philippines in the

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

and

2014 AFF Championship The 2014 AFF Championship, sponsored by Suzuki and officially known as the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup, was the 10th edition of the AFF Championship, an international association football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the ...

Early life

Rob Gier was born to Robert Gier and Rosario and grew up in

Ascot Ascot, Ascott or Askot may refer to: Places Australia * Ascot, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane * Ascot, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality * Ascot Park, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide * Ascot (Ballarat), town near Ballarat in Victoria ...

, England. Upon coming from work, Rob's father would often bring him to football training. His mother, Rosario is a Waray from

Tacloban Tacloban ( ; ), officially the City of Tacloban (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city on Leyte island in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, Tacloban has a popu ...

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has been ...

Club career

Gier began his career at

, who had been relegated from the Premiership in 1999–00 season. He made his debut the following season, starting a 0–0 home draw with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

on 28 October 2000. In 2004, he joined

, and was part of the side that was relegated from the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

in 2005–06. He left the club following their relegation, and had spells in the Conference with

, and

during the 2006–07 season. He joined

at the start of the 2007–08 season, and was part of the side that won the Conference with a record points total. He made 38 league appearances for the club, all starts, but despite this was released at the end of the campaign. On 22 May 2008,

announced they had signed Gier on a one-year contract, however, he was transfer listed by the club in January 2009, with financial pressures and manager

Wayne Burnett Wayne Burnett (born 4 September 1971) is an English football coach and former footballer who is head coach of Tottenham Hotspur's under-21 team. As a player Burnett was a midfielder from 1989 until 2004, playing in the Football League for Plymo ...

's plans being cited as the reason. Gier joined Hellenic League Premier Division club Ascot United in November 2009, after being released at the end of the previous season by Grays Athletic. He announced his retirement in February 2016.

International career

Gier was called up to the Philippines national team in March 2009, for the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers in April, where they were due to face,

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

and the

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

. He made his international debut in

2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification The 2010 AFC Challenge Cup qualification phase saw five teams advance to the finals to join three automatic qualifiers in the final tournament in Sri Lanka. Qualification consisted of two sections. * A playoff between the 19th and 20th ranked entra ...

match against Bhutan on 14 April 2009 and also played against Maldives and Turkmenistan. On 10 September 2012 Gier scored his first international goal for the Philippines in a 2–1 loss to Laos, however it was not a

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

-sanctioned match. FIFA did not recognize the match's results after it was found out that the referees who officiated the match were not recognized by the world sporting body. He scored his first official international goal for the Philippines in the 2014 Philippine Peace Cup against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Philippines' goal tally first.''

Retirement

On 17 February 2016 Gier announced his retirement from playing competitive football at the age of 35. Gier is set to focus on operating Zenith Soccer Tours and spending more time with his family. Earlier in 2014, Gier established Zenith Soccer Tours, a youth football program in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The idea was concepted by Gier, after he met with the Philippine national youth team who had a three-week training camp in the UK in 2013.

Coaching career

Oxford University (Women's)

In November 2016, Gier was appointed as head coach of the women's football team of the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. He served in this role until May 2018. Gier obtained a UEFA A coaching licence by September 2017. While still playing for the national team and Ascot United, he began finishing a two-year course to obtain the UEFA A coaching licence. He plans to coach in the United Kingdom while working for a

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

that would make him eligible to coach in the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

and UEFA competitions. He has expressed his openness to coach for the Philippine national team.

Reading (Women's)

In 2017, Gier began working with

Reading F.C. Women Reading Football Club Women is an English Women's association football, women's football club affiliated with Reading FC. The club most recently played in the FA Women's Championship, Women's Championship, the second tier of English women's foot ...

as its women's development coach. He was eventually promoted as the Reading F.C. Women academy manager in July 2018.

Philippines U22

In March 2023, the

Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...

announced that Rob Gier was appointed as the new head coach of Philippines U22.

Honours

Club

;Aldershot Town *

: 2007–08 *

: 2007–08

International

;Philippines *

AFC Challenge Cup The AFC Challenge Cup was an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries that were categorised as "emerging countries" in the "Vision Asia" programme. It was created by former AFC president Mohammed ...

: Third

Philippine Peace Cup The Philippine Peace Cup was a four-nation international football competition organized by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) which involves the national teams of the Philippines and three invitees. The inaugural edition took place in 2012, ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Personal life

Gier is married and has two children. His family resides in England.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gier, Robert 1981 births Living people English people of Filipino descent Filipino people of English descent Sportspeople from Ascot, Berkshire British people of Filipino descent British Asian footballers English men's footballers Filipino men's footballers Filipino expatriate men's footballers Philippines men's international footballers Men's association football defenders National League (English football) players English Football League players Aldershot Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Woking F.C. players Ascot United F.C. players Filipino football managers 21st-century English sportsmen 21st-century Filipino sportsmen