Varadaraju Sundramoorthy (; born 6 October 1965) is a former

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 ...

international International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Widely touted as one of the country's most talented footballers ever, Sundramoorthy is the currently the technical director of the Laos national team. He coached the

LionsXII LionsXII ("Lions Twelve"), also known as Singapore LionsXII, was a Singaporean youth football club founded in 2011 that played in the Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football, from their inaugural season until their dissolutio ...

, a Singapore-based team playing in the

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League (), known simply as the Super League (), is the men's top professional Football in Malaysia, football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnersh ...

, and held a dual appointment as the head coach of the Under-23 team from 2011 to 2013 when he announced his plans to sign with the Malaysian Premier League team, Negeri Sembilan. After coaching Negeri Sembilan for half a season in 2014, he returned to Singapore to take the helm at Tampines Rovers for almost 2 years, then a 2-year stint as head coach of Singapore.

Playing career

Sundramoorthy broke into the Singapore-Malaysia Cup team in 1983 at 18 years of age and in the following season became the top scorer in the tournament.

Playing in Europe

In 1988, Sundramoorthy became the second player from Singapore to play in Europe when he signed for

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

club

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

. He played there during the second half of their 1987–88 season (the season that Basel suffered relegation) under head coach

Urs Siegenthaler Urs Siegenthaler (born 23 November 1947) is a former Swiss footballer, turned manager. Since 13 May 2005 he was a Chiefscout and Analyser for the Germany national team, until 11 November 2021. Playing career Born in Basel, Siegenthaler started ...

. After playing in eight test games, he played his first match in the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

in an away game on 20 March 1988 against

Bulle Bulle (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Gruyère (district), Gruyère in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Fribourg (canton), Fribourg in Switzerland. In January 2006 Bulle incorporated the formerly inde ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the same game as Basel won 0–2. He played solely five league games, in which scored three goals. He was released to Old Boys at the end of the season. He then joined

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 ...

for the

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

tournament as he returned in 1989. During his playing days in

Alor Setar Alor Setar ( Kedah Malay: ) is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is home to the third-tallest ...

playing his trade for

, Sundramoorthy helped Kedah to defeat

3–1 in the final of the 1990 Malaysia Cup, scoring Kedah's opening goal. During Singapore's run-up to the 1993 Malaysia Cup Final appearance, Sundramoorthy was one of the most influential players in the team. He was a player well known for his dribbling skills and his finishing. One of Sundramoorthy's most famous goals was a

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

scored against Brunei in a 1993 FAM Division II League tie at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

. He also scored a spectacular backheel during his days with

Jurong FC Jurong Football Club was a professional football club, based in Jurong, Singapore. The club played in S.League, the top division of football in Singapore from 1997 to 2003. The team's best league finishes in this period were fifth place in bot ...

. In a match against Pahang that same year, Sundramoorthy audaciously faked a backheel that fooled the Pahang defenders before crossing for

Fandi Ahmad Fandi bin Ahmad (born 29 May 1962) is a Singaporean professional Manager (association football), football manager/head coach and former Association football, player. During his professional career, he played mainly as a Forward (association fo ...

to score the winner late in the game. In his later days, Sundramoorthy played domestically, first turning out for

Woodlands Wellington Woodlands Wellington Football Club was a professional association football, football club based in Woodlands, Singapore, Woodlands, Singapore which played in the S.League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club took part in S.League ...

in the league's inaugural year in 1996 before moving on to become the first-ever player-coach in S.League history for

. Sundramoorthy was nicknamed 'The Dazzler', which was also the name of his autobiography, at the height of his prowess and 'King Cobra' when he was at Jurong.

International career

Sundramoorthy made several appearances for the

Singapore national football team The Singapore national football team represents Singapore in the senior men's international football. It is organised by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), the governing body of football in Singapore, which is affiliated with the Asi ...

, including at the

1990 Asian Games ) , nations = 31 , athletes = 6,122 , events = 308 in 27 sports , opening = 22 September 1990 , closing = 7 October 1990 , opened_by = Yang Shangkun , closed_by = Roy de Silva , athlete_oath = Chen L ...

when he scored a hat-trick against Pakistan. Sundramoorthy also represented Singapore in several

SEA Games The Southeast Asian Games, commonly known as SEA Games is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with su ...

and helped the Lions reach the final in 1989 when his last-minute through ball led to Fandi Ahmad's winner against Indonesia. He was one of the most feared Southeast Asian strikers the 1980s and early 1990s.

Coaching career

LionsXII

Since 2012 Sundramoorthy has been the head coach of the

, who played in the

Malaysian Super League The Malaysia Super League (), known simply as the Super League (), is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known ...

. In his first season in charge he led the

to 2nd place in the Malaysia Super League and the semi-finals of the

Singapore national team

On 21 January 2013, it was announced that Sundramoorthy would be appointed caretaker coach of the

while the

Football Association of Singapore The Football Association of Singapore (FAS) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football in Singapore. Established in 1892 as the Singapore Football Association (SFA), it is the oldest football association in all of ...

searched for a replacement for former coach

Radojko Avramović Radojko "Raddy" Avramović ( sr-Cyrl, Радојко Аврамовић; born 29 November 1949) is a Serbian retired football coach and player. A goalkeeper, Avramović most notably played for Croatian club Rijeka and English club Notts Count ...

. His first game in charge was against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

on 6 February 2013 at Singapore's

Jalan Besar Stadium Jalan Besar Stadium, officially the Jalan Besar ActiveSG Stadium, is a football stadium located in Kallang, Singapore. The stadium is part of the Jalan Besar Sports and Recreation Centre, a community sports facility that includes the stadium as ...

. On 15 May 2013, German coach

Bernd Stange Bernd Walter Stange (born 14 March 1948) is a German football manager who last managed the Syria national team. During his playing career, he played for Chemie Gnaschwitz, Vorwärts Bautzen, and HSG DHfK Leipzig as a defender. Playing care ...

was announced as the new manager of the

while Sundramoorthy was appointed as the head coach of the

Singapore national under-23 football team The Singapore national under-23 football team is the national under-23 association football team of Singapore. The team comes under the organisation of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS). Players are usually selected from the Singapore ...

for the

2013 SEA Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games (, ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and commonly known as Naypyitaw 2013, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event took place in Naypyidaw, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar from 11 ...

Aide Iskandar Aide Iskandar bin Sahak (born 28 May 1975) is a former professional footballer. He was a member of the Singapore national team which won the AFF Championship in 1998, 2004 and 2007, captaining the team in the latter two editions. Club career ...

was named as his assistant.

Negeri Sembilan

On 7 October 2013, Sundramoorthy announced that he would not be renewing his contract with the

to coach the Malaysian Super League side LionsXII. He took over as head coach at second tier

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional Association football, football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. T ...

side

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

on a two-year contract from 1 November 2013. After finishing sixth in the

2014 Malaysia Premier League The 2014 Liga Premier (), also known as the Astro Liga Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the ninth season of the Liga Premier, the second-tier professional football league in Malaysia.

and failing to qualify for the

, Sundramoorthy was relieved of his duties by Negeri Sembilan.

Tampines Rovers

In December 2014, Sundramoorthy was confirmed as the new head coach of the

Tampines Rovers Tampines Rovers Football Club (currently known as BG Tampines Rovers due to sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football, football club based in Tampines, Singapore, that competes in the Singapore Premier League, the top tier of t ...

. This was the first time after 5 years that he held the head coach post in the S.League.

Second stint with the Singapore national team

Sundramoorthy was unveiled as the head coach of the Singapore national football team in May 2016, on a one-year contract. He extended his contract as the Lions head coach for two more years in March 2017. However, one year later, he stepped down from his role by mutual consent on 9 April 2018.

Laos national team

On 15 October 2018, Sundramoorthy became the head coach of the Laos national team where he was also tasked to helms the Laos under-23 team. He was joined by compatriot V. Selvaraj who managed Laos' youth teams and also assisting him in the senior team. In October 2021, Sundramoorthy became the technical director of the team while Selvaraj took over his head coach position.

Chanthabouly

On the same day Sundramoorthy agreed to become the head coach of Laos, he also agreed to join

Lao Premier League The Lao League 1 (), also known as the Pepsi Lao League 1 for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of men's football in Laos. Teams A total of 10 teams participated in the 2025–26 Lao League 1 season. :''Note: Table lists in alphabetical ...

club Chanthabouly as their technical director.

International goals

Honours

Player

Kedah *

: 1986, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994

Manager

LionsXII *

: 2013

References

External links

V. Sundramoorthy Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundramoorthy, V 1965 births Singaporean people of Indian descent Living people Singaporean men's footballers Singaporean sportspeople of Indian descent Singaporean expatriate men's footballers Singapore men's international footballers Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland FC Basel players BSC Old Boys players Kelantan F.C. players Singapore FA players Kedah Darul Aman F.C. players Sri Pahang FC players Jurong FC players Singaporean Hindus Singaporean people of Tamil descent Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards LionsXII managers Singapore Premier League managers Jurong FC managers Singapore Premier League players Young Lions FC managers Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games SEA Games silver medalists for Singapore SEA Games bronze medalists for Singapore SEA Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1983 SEA Games Competitors at the 1985 SEA Games Competitors at the 1989 SEA Games Competitors at the 1991 SEA Games Competitors at the 1993 SEA Games Asian Games footballers for Singapore Singaporean football managers Singaporean expatriate football managers Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Laos Singaporean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Laos national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Laos Association football technical directors