Aleksandar Đurić (; born 12 August 1970) is a Singaporean former professional footballer who serves as the principal for Sport Singapore and the ActiveSG Football Academy. He has played in the Singapore Cosmopolitan Football League, a top amateur football league in Singapore for SCC First prior to his retirement from professional football. He was noted for being a prolific striker with strong physical presence. His professional approach to his fitness and a disciplined lifestyle contributed to extending a career spanning over three decades. Đurić was junior kayaking champion of Yugoslavia when he was 15 and was ranked 8th in the world at 17. He represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in the C-1 500m canoeing event the 1992 Summer Olympics. After the Olympics, he returned to Hungary to resume his football career. In 1999, he signed for Tanjong Pagar United in the S.League where he was converted to a striker for the first time in his career. He won trophies with subsequent clubs Home United, Geylang United, Singapore Armed Forces and Tampines Rovers. He won eight league titles and three Singapore Cups in 15 seasons, amassing three Player of the Year and four top scorer awards on the way to becoming the league's all-time top scorer. At international level, he debuted for Singapore at the age of 37 years in 2007. He became the first foreign-born player to start a match as captain in May 2008. He was in the Singapore squad for the AFF Championship in 2008, 2010 and 2012, the latter of which Singapore won. He retired from international football in December 2012 with a record of 24 goals in 53 matches. In 2013, he assumed his new duties as full-time fitness coach at his club Tampines Rovers. He retired from his playing career at the age of 44 in November 2014. Early life 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