Lim Tong Hai


Lim Tong Hai was a centre-back for the Singapore national football team from 1989 to 1999. He held various backroom roles at former club Geylang United after retiring from his playing career until his departure in 2012.

Club career

Lim played for Geylang International in the FAS Premier League before signing for the Singapore Lions in 1994. He formed a strong partnership with South Korean Jang Jung in the heart of defence as the Lions achieved the M-League and Malaysia Cup double in 1994. With the withdrawal of the Lions from Malaysian competitions and subsequent launch of the S.League, he signed for Tiong Bahru United in 1996. In 1998, he captained Tanjong Pagar United to a Singapore Cup and Singapore FA Cup double. He made a return to Geylang United in 2002, playing a further 2 seasons until he retired as a player.

International career

Lim played for the Singapore national football team and had many memorable matches for Singapore. However, the nadir of his international career came at the 1993 Southeast Asian Games where he scored two own goals against Myanmar to cost Singapore the match and a spot in the final.

Coaching career

Lim retired from playing in 2003 and was appointed coach for Geylang United's Prime League team the following year. In 2006, he was promoted to caretaker coach of the first team and was likely to continue to lead the team for the 2007 S.League season as he was ready to rebuild the team after years of dismal results in the league, where Geylang United was last in the standings.
However, there was a turn of fortunes when Lim led Geylang to a much-improved 2007 season high of 4th in the S-League table. There were much changes in the Geylang United side with Kim Grant, Noh Rahman, Hassan Sunny and Lim leading the team for a better start for the 2007 S-League season.
In late 2007, he assumed the role of team manager when Slovak Jozef Herel was brought in as Geylang's coach.