Shiraz Zawahir, an old boy of St. Anthony’s College Kandy, who is deeply in love with football coaching has been nominated to receive an award in coaching from the Southampton FC.
At Southampton Solent University he studied for his masters and graduated, has been nominated for the ‘No Room for Racism’ Icon award. He was nominated as one out of just twenty, ‘No Room for Racism Icon’s nationally, the Premier League initiative aimed at increasing diversity in football and ending discrimination in the sport. Now Shiraz is making waves as a coach at Southampton Football Club.
Growing up with a passion for sports, Shiraz moved to Southampton to study BSC (Hons) football Studies followed by an MA in Sport Management. It was during this time that Shiraz first connected with Southampton FC volunteering and working part time in their coaching programs which empower young people and adults to take charge of their wellbeing through football.
Upon completing his studies and time at Southampton FC, Shiraz moved to London giants Chelsea FC where he was part of their setup for two years.
Now after a successful stint at Chelsea FC Shiraz is back at Saints fuelling his passion for coaching and aiding in the development of individuals into better players and people for the wider Community.
Sri Lankans should be extremely proud of Shiraz’s achievements. As he is the first Sri Lanka to be nominated for the prestigious award by the English Premier League, to possess a UEFA ‘B’ coaching license as well as representing Sri Lanka as a coach who has worked in major league football clubs in Europe with Southampton FC zand Chelsea FC.
His future is extremely bright and hopeful to see him achieve more success and one day see him with the Sri Lankan National Team Youth Setup as coach.
