Aleksandar Đurić

Australia

An associate of Đurić helped to arrange for a trial in Australia with Frank Arok, a retired Serbian footballer of Hungarian descent and former Australia coach. In 1995, he moved to South Melbourne Hellas in the National Soccer League where he played as a defender. He also played for other Australian clubs such as Port Melbourne Sharks, Gippsland Falcons, Heidelberg United, West Adelaide and had a brief stint with Chinese side Locomotive Shanshan in 1997. In 1999, Đurić’s club West Adelaide went bankrupt. He received offers from Hong Kong and Singapore but chose to move to the latter, where he began his S.League career with Tanjong Pagar United. At this stage of his career, he had been playing on the left flank as a winger or left-back. His coach Tohari Paijan converted the 6'4" player into a striker. He scored 11 goals in 16 league matches as the club finished third. Đurić returned to Australia at the end of the season and obtained Australian citizenship in the hope of representing the Socceroos. He played for Sydney-based Marconi Stallions, reverting to his left midfield position. In June 2000, Đurić moved permanently to Singapore with Home United, playing as a striker again. He scored 11 goals in all competitions for his new club as he won the 2000 Singapore Cup in front of a 45,000 crowd at the National Stadium. He was released by the club at the end of the season.

Geylang United

In 2001, Đurić signed on with Geylang United where he formed a…

It took Đurić three personal attempts before he received Singaporean citizenship on 27 September 2007 as he was not on the Football Association of Singapore's Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Despite obtaining his Singapore passport for non-footballing reasons, coach Radojko Avramović called him up to the Singapore national team on 1 November 2007. He made his international debut at the age of 37 years and 89 days against Tajikistan in the first leg of the second round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers on 9 November, contributing with an immediate impact by scoring both goals in a 2–0 victory. Đurić started the match following injuries to attacking midfielder Shi Jiayi and striker Indra Shahdan Daud. The result coupled with a 1–1 draw in the second leg meant that Singapore progressed to the third round of the Asian Qualifying Tournament for the first time, where they were drawn against Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Uzbekistan. He continued his fine form on the international stage, scoring against Lebanon and Uzbekistan as Singapore finished third in Group 4. With the absence of regular captain Indra Sahdan and vice-captain Lionel Lewis for the friendly against Bahrain on 28 May 2008, Đurić skippered Singapore for the first time, becoming the first ever foreign-born player to start a game as captain. Đurić made the national team for the 2008 AFF Championship but was ruled out for the rest of the tournament after suffering a fibula injury in the opening match against Cambodia.…

Đurić stated his intention to remain involved in Singapore football in a coaching capacity as he nears completing his 'A' coaching licence by the end of his playing career. He has been Tampines Rovers' fitness coach since 2013, a job he has held full-time as he prepares to shift to backroom staff.

Aleksandar Đurić was born in Lipac on the outskirts of Doboj, in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (current Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The childhood supporter of Red Star Belgrade spent his formative years in the youth teams of his hometown club FK Sloga Doboj as a goalkeeper and later, as a midfielder. He also took up kayaking at the age of 12 on the advice of the doctor treating his growth disorder of the chest. He became junior kayaking champion of Yugoslavia when he was 15 and by age 17, he was ranked 8th in the world. Đurić was drafted into the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) at the age of 17 and became an officer during his service. With the impending Bosnian War, his father wanted him or his brother to leave the country to preserve the family line. He was instructed to leave his hometown as he was younger and a sportsman. Đurić recalls: "My father fought in this war, my brother for almost five years and my mother was killed in 1993 by the Muslim army. They bombed our village and it hit my home directly. A really big bomb and my mother died instantly [...] So many people like me lost mothers and fathers in this bloody civil war but for me I hold no grudges. I don’t look at race, I look at people by their hearts and here in Singapore I adopted a Muslim child." With just 300 Deutsche Marks on him, Đurić left for Serbia where he played football in the second division for one season and then Sweden, where he trained with AIK and was offered refugee…