Som Saran
Cambodian football manager and former player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Som Saran (Khmer: សោមសារ៉ន; born 1951), formerly known as Tes Sean or Nguyễn Tấn Sinh, is a former footballer and manager from Cambodia.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Tes Sean | ||
| Date of birth | 1951 (age 74–75) | ||
| Place of birth | Kampong Cham, Cambodia | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| –1975 | Phnom Penh | ||
| 1975–1979 | Tây Ninh[1] | ||
| International career | |||
| 1968–1975 | Cambodia | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2003–2005 | Cambodia | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Since 2005, he has been the deputy director of the Veterans' Pensions Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs.[3][4]
Early life
Raised in the town of Kampong Cham, Som started football at age 16 and moved to the capital, Phnom Penh.[3]
Playing career
After the Khmer Rouge took power, Som was forced to flee to Vietnam, where he played for Tây Ninh. Some of former his teammates in Cambodia were forced into agricultural work.[5]
He captained the Cambodia national team in 1972,[6] leading them to a fourth-place finish in the 1972 AFC Asian Cup.[3][7][8][9][10] When he returned to Cambodia in the 1990s, only six players were alive from the team that last played before the Khmer Rouge came.[5]
Coaching career
While managing Cambodia, Som insinuated that his players were involved in corruption. An investigation was conducted, but the Cambodia Football Federation denied the accusation.[11]
In charge of Cambodia until 2005,[12] he led his team to the 2004 Tiger Cup and played against Vietnam.[13] His team mostly composed of 20 to 21 year old players.[14]