If you were a football fan in Singapore (or Malaysia) back in the 80s and 90s, the surname Fandi should ring a bell. That’s right — Iman Fandi, the singer, model and actress currently having a massive 2026, is the daughter of Fandi Ahmad, one of Singapore’s greatest-ever footballers.
Iman’s very much building her own legacy. After performing at the AFC Asian Cup half-time show and singing before 42,000 people at Singapore’s recent National Day Parade, she recently shared a stage with Snoop Dogg himself at an invite-only TikTok LIVE event held at his private studio in Inglewood, California — marking the international debut of her new single “IT IS,” which just dropped on all streaming platforms. For a Singaporean act to land a stage like that alongside a name as big as Snoop Dogg is no small feat.
For younger audiences, Iman’s probably been on your radar for a while now through her music and acting career — but here’s the family history that makes her story even more interesting.
Fandi Ahmad was also a very popular footballer in Malaysia — he was part of a hugely successful Kuala Lumpur team alongside fellow Singaporean Malek Awab and Malaysian Serbegeth “Shebby” Singh , who went on to become a well-known football pundit after his playing career from the late 90s until his passing in 2022. That KL side won the Malaysia Cup three years running from 1987 to 1989, and picked up a few Malaysian League titles across that same stretch too.
Before all that, Fandi had already turned down a shot at one of European football’s biggest clubs. In 1982, an 18-year-old Fandi trialled with Ajax, where the squad at the time featured none other than Johan Cruyff — then nearing the end of his playing career — alongside a young Marco van Basten. By the end of his three-week trial, he was reportedly the second most popular player at the club, after Cruyff himself. Ajax offered him a three-year contract, but Fandi turned it down, a decision he’s since called his biggest career regret. He instead went on to make history as the first Singaporean to play professional football in Europe with Dutch club FC Groningen, scoring against Inter Milan in a famous 1983 UEFA Cup win.
It’s also worth noting that Fandi’s wife — and the kids’ mother — is Wendy Jacobs, a South African-born former model. Between a football legend father and a model mother, it’s easy to see where Iman might have drawn the confidence to carve out her own path in music and acting, even while her brothers followed dad onto the pitch.
Football actually runs three generations deep in the Fandi family. Fandi’s own father, Ahmad Wartam, was a goalkeeper for the Singapore national team back in the 1960s — and decades later, all four of Fandi’s sons picked up the family trade too. Irfan (b. 1997, now with Port FC in Thailand), Ikhsan (b. 1999, currently at Thespa Gunma in Japan’s J-League 3), and Ilhan (currently with BG Pathum United in Thailand) have all gone on to represent Singapore at senior national team level. The youngest, Iryan (b. 2006, currently with Young Lions FC in the Singapore Premier League), is still working his way up through the age-group ranks.
(Photo Source : @imanfandi17, @fandiahmadofficial )