Norizan Bakar

Norizan played for his home state Perlis in semi-pro league from 1978 until 1989. His main achievement as a player was a Division Two title in 1989 with Perlis FA.

Perlis FA and Penang FA

Norizan started his coaching career with his own former team Perlis FA. He also had a stint with Penang FA. With Perlis, he won the Malaysia Cup in 2004 as well as the Malaysia FA Cup runner-up in 2003.

Malaysia

After Bertalan Bicskei relieved of his duties as the head coach of the Malaysia national football team, Norizan was appointed as his successor by Football Association of Malaysia in September 2005. He was also appointed as head coach of Malaysia national under-23 football team, until 2006. Early in his reign, the Malaysia U-23 squad achieved Manila 2005 SEA Games bronze medal, and the senior team also emerges as ASEAN Football Championship semifinalists in 2007. However, in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, which Malaysia qualified as co-hosts, Norizan had his worst results as a coach. The Malaysian team was hammered 5–1 against China and 5–0 against Uzbekistan; only a 2–0 loss against Iran was considered a respectable score. After the defeat against Uzbekistan, Norizan was sacked, although he was still in charge for the final group match against Iran. The poor showing by the Malaysia national team at the Asian Cup and the criticism from the Malaysia fans and medias also led to a mass resignation of the upper echelons of Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) including the deputy president, Tengku Abdullah ibni Sultan Ahmad Shah.

Kelantan FA and Perak FA

In 2008, Norizan became the manager for Kelantan FA. Due to family…

Norizan was also known by his nickname 'Cikgu Jan'. The nickname (Cikgu meaning 'Teacher' in Malay, and Jan is a diminutive form of Norizan), stems from his background as a former school teacher.