# Gavin Lee (football coach)

Gavin Joshua Lee Tse Peng (born 8 September 1990) is a Singaporean professional football coach who is the current head coach of Singapore Premier League club Tampines Rovers and the assistant coach of the Singapore national team.
Gavin holds a AFC ‘A’ Coaching License.

## Early life

Gavin joined the JSSL Singapore when he was 18 as a "cone guy" before becoming the general manager in 2016. Gavin is also the youngest ever head coach in the history of the Singapore Premier League. Typically, football coaches in Singapore usually embark on their coaching career only in their late thirties, after ending their playing careers. As a young football coach, Gavin admitted that a consequence of his daily routines is that he “does not have as many friends as others”.
Since he was 17, Gavin has been a football coach. He worked his way up from the grassroots, coaching children as young as five at JSSL.
As a teenager, Gavin was skillful enough as a footballer to make it into the now-defunct National Football Academy. But after seeing the talent of his batch mates, such as Gabriel Quak, Hariss Harun and Izwan Mahbud, Gavin knew he would not be able to keep up. “It was also at that point that I realised I couldn't cope academically, so I decided to choose a different path,” Gavin shared. He turned to coaching because his father had been a coach since he was young. Apart from doing his coaching badges from the basic grassroots courses to the introductory courses and the more elite AFC (Asian Football Confederation) ‘A’ diploma licence, Gavin also had to get his degree.

## Playing career

When Gavin was much younger, Gavin would often walk from his block at Tampines Central, pass through Tampines interchange, and make his way to Tampines Stadium for football training. He played for the Tampines under-8s, as well as the under-10s, teams that his father coached at the time.
He also played for the national under-14 team.

## Coaching career
### Warriors

In 2014, Gavin joined Warriors as their match analyst in their title winning season in 2014 where he got promoted to the assistant coach under Alex Weaver in 2015. Gavin left Warriors in October 2015.

### Tampines Rovers

In December 2017, Gavin joined Tampines Rovers as an assistant coach under head coach Kadir Yahaya. In 2019, he became Tampines Rovers head coach despite lacking the required Asian Football Confederation 'A' License to become the head coach. Lee was appointed as head coach based on his past performance as Warriors's assistant coach and impressed Tampines Rovers' staff and players with his knowledge.
Gavin would then led the club to second place back to back placing in the Singapore Premier League and won the 2019 Singapore Cup in his first season in charge.
During the 2021 season, he led the team to their first ever AFC Champions League debut in Tashkent, Uzbekistan which they are drawn in Group H with 2020 K League 1 champions and 2020 Korean FA Cup winners, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, 2020 J1 League runners-up, Gamba Osaka and Thailand Chiangrai United.
On 16 June 2021, Gavin has extended his contract until 2024.
Tampines Rovers also qualified for the AFC Champions League Two as the 2nd best placed local team in the previous season. On 18 July 2024, Tampines Rovers maintain their seven unbeaten streak (6 wins, 1 draw) where the club defeated league rivals Lion City Sailors 5–0 at the Bishan Stadium to stay on top of the league table. Tampines Rovers then participated in the inaugural 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two group stage alongside Thailand club Bangkok United, Vietnamese club Nam Định and Hong Kong club Lee Man. On 18 September 2024, the club then played their first match against Bangkok United at the Thammasat Stadium where Seia Kunori scored a brace for the club but it wasnt enough as the Stags lost 4–2 to the host. During the second round of the AFC Champions League Two match against Lee Man at home soil on 2 October, after conceding an early goal from the visitors, Boris Kopitović equalised the match at 1–1 right before half time from the penalty spot. In the second half, Faris Ramli and Seia Kunori both scored a goal to secured a 3–1 win against Lee Man. On 27 November, Seia Kunori scored the only goal in the match to end Bangkok United winning streak in the group stage at home. On the final day fixtures against Lee Man at the Mong Kok Stadium desperately needing a win, Tampines Rovers felled to a goalless draw. Tampines Rovers finished the 2024–25 AFC Champions League Two campaign with a respectable 8 points in the group stage.

### Singapore

On 7 March 2024, Gavin was invited to be part of the backroom staff of the Singapore national team by the newly appointed Japanese head coach Tsutomu Ogura for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification match against China. On 11 June 2024, Gavin was appointed in charge of the national team against Thailand after Ogura tested positive for COVID-19.

## Education

Lee was a former student of Victoria School and Victoria Junior College. He later studied in Nanyang Technological University and had a degree in Sports Science and Management.
When Gavin Lee was in university, he was often labelled as an “old man”. That was because instead of heading to suppers and parties with his peers, Gavin regularly turned down invitations because he needed to rest and wake up early for work the following day. He was working as a coach at private football academy JSSL then.
In June 2011, Gavin was issued a AFC 'C' Coaching License at the age of 21. He then went on to get the AFC 'B' Coaching License in July 2015 before finally getting to the highest achieving license, AFC 'A' Coaching License in January 2020.

## Honours
### As manager

* Singapore Cup: 2019
* Singapore Community Shield: 2020