Player Profile: Aleksandar Đurić

Aleksandar Đurić

(born 12 August 1970 in Doboj, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia), is a Yugoslav-born Singaporean professional association football player who plays as a striker for the Tampines Rovers in the S. League and for the Singapore national football team. Prior to that, he competed as a sprint canoer for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s.

Career

Đurić competed for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona in the C-1 500 m event, but was eliminated in the repechages.

He debuted for the Singapore national team on the 9 November 2007, against Tajikistan in the first leg of the second round of the AFC 2010 World Cup qualifiers, making an immediate impact as he scored both goals in a 2-0 victory. He continued his fine form in the international stage, bagging goals in the game against Lebanon as well.

During the international friendly against Bahrain, due to the absences of captain Indra Sahdan and vice-captain Lionel Lewis, Đuric captained the Singapore national team for the first time, possibly making him the first ever non-Singapore-born player to start a game as a captain.

From 2005 to 2009, Đurić had his most successful period with SAFFC, scoring 157 goals in just 129 appearances. This made him one of the few players to score more than 100 goals in the S-League.

Aleksandar Đurić's fine performance in the 2007 S.League season won him several awards, and he was named the NTUC-Income Player of the Year, in the 2007 S-League Awards Night.

Đurić, known as the goal-machine, bagged more awards in 2008, retaining the Player of the Year and Top Scorer awards, but missed out on the rest of the AFF Suzuki Cup 2008 after suffering a fibula injury against Cambodia.

He scored his first goal in Asia’s premier club competition, AFC Champions League against Suwon Samsung Bluewings on 19 May 2009.

In September 2009, Đuric reportedly agreed to join Sriwijaya FC of the Indonesian Super League for a reported US$110,000 a season contract. However, a month later, he told the press that he declined the offer in the end because Sriwijaya tried to change the terms of the contract which was mutually agreed upon a month earlier.

Đurić was then signed by Tampines Rovers FC for the 2010 S-League Season. He scored 20 league goals in his first season there and his club eventually finished second-placed.