Football Association of Thailand

Football Association of Thailand
founding	April 25, 1916
FIFA accession	June 23, 1925
AFC accession	1957
president	Worawi Makudi
Secretary General	Ong-Arj Kosinkar
National teams	Men's national team , U-23, U-21, U-20, U-18, U-16, U-14, U-13, U-12 Futsal national team Women's national team , U-23, U-19, U- 17, U-16, U-14 futsal
Clubs (approx.)	150 (as of 2006)
Members (approx.)	~ 30,000 (as of 2006)
Homepage	www.fat.or.th

The Football Association of Thailand , or FAT for short, is the Thai football association . The full name is Football Association of Thailand under the patronage of His Majesty the King (Eng .: The Football Association of Thailand under the patronage of His Majesty the King ).

history

On April 25, 1916, the association was founded by King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) . This makes the association one of the oldest in Asia. They joined FIFA in 1925 and the AFC in 1957 . The Thai Football Association is one of the most successful in Southeast Asia. In 1984 the association was one of the founding members of the ASEAN Football Federation .

In 2007 the association signed a supplier agreement with Nike . The contract will run for five years until 2012. Nothing was officially known about the amount, but it is estimated at around 150 million baht . Previously, only national sporting goods manufacturers such as Grand Sport or FBT equip the association's teams.

Soccer

National competitions

The following national competitions are and have been held under the umbrella of the FAT:

• Thai football championship
• FA Cup (Thailand)
• King's Cup
• Kor Royal Cup
• Queen's Cup

Thai championship

Main article: Thai League

Logo of the Thai Premier League until 2016

The Thai Football Championship is the most important national title in both men's and women's football. The Thai men's soccer champion has been played since 1916. Until 1996 the competition was called the Kor Royal Cup . The first master in 1916 was the Department of Performing Arts . Since 1996 the championship has been held under the name Thai Premier League . The reigning champions are the Muang Thong United . The league champions may qualify for the AFC Champions League the following year . The runner-up was qualified for direct participation in the AFC Cup until 2009 . Since the re-introduction of the Thai Cup in 2009, this starting place has been given to the cup winner. The title of record champions in the Premier League is shared by FC Krung Thai Bank , BEC-Tero Sasana and the Royal Thai Air Force with 2 championships each. Across the Kor Royal Cup and the TPL, the FC Royal Thai Air Force is the record champion with 13 titles.

The Thai women's soccer champion was first played in 2009 in the Thai Women's League .

Kor Royal Cup

The Kor Royal Cup has only been played three times (2007–2009). It is a kind of Supercup of the Thai championship, in which the master competed against the runner-up at the end of the season. Until the introduction of the Thai Premier League in 1996, the Thai Championship was named the Kor Royal Cup.

Queen's Cup

The Queen's Cup was first held in 1970, and is a national cup competition with visiting teams from other countries. The record holder is Han Yang University with seven titles, followed by FC Port Authority with six titles. After the Queen's Cup did not take place in 2007 and 2008, it was held for the 33rd time in 2009. The winner was Hallelujah FC from South Korea .

FA Cup

→ Main article : FA Cup (Thailand)

The FA Cup is the national cup competition of Thailand. It was first held in 1980. From 2001 to 2009, the national competition was not on the association's calendar. In 2009 it was held again for the first time. The 2009 competition was open to teams and clubs of all kinds. For example, a team called the 8th Pattaya School took part. This is the name behind the club FC Magna Pattaya. Magna Pattaya is a club that does not belong to any league in Thailand. In the 2009 final, the FC Thai Port and BEC-Tero Sasana faced each other. After 1-1 in extra time, FC Thai Port prevailed on penalties.

International competitions

World championships

Thailand has never qualified for the World Cup. In qualifying for the 2010 World Cup , they failed again in the 3rd round. You finished the group as the last with only one point. This led to the fact that national coach Charnwit Polcheewin resigned from his position in June 2008. His successor was the Englishman Peter Reid .

Success at soccer Asian championships

In 2007 Thailand co-hosted the Asian Football Championship and wanted to survive the group round for the first time in a long time. However, what could not succeed.

Soccer Asian Championship

• 3rd place in 1972

Successes at the Olympic Games

Thailand has only participated in the Olympic Games twice. 1956 in Melbourne and 1968 in Mexico. For the 2008 Summer Olympics one could not qualify again.

Successes at the Southeast Asian Games

The Southeast Asian Games are a kind of Olympiad for the countries of Southeast Asia. So far Thailand has hosted the games six times, the last time in 2007. Only U-23 national teams compete.

Southeast Asian Games Men

• Winner (8) 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007

Southeast Asian Games Women

• 2007 winner

Successes at the ASEAN soccer championship

Until 2004, the ASEAN soccer championship was called the Tiger Cup . Thailand last won the title in 2002.

Men's

• Winner 1996, 2000, 2002
• Final 2007, 2008

Successes at the King's Cup

→ Main article : King's Cup (soccer)

The King's Cup is a soccer tournament that has been held in Thailand every year since 1968 and is attended by the Thai men's national team. For this purpose, national teams are also invited to club teams from other countries.

Men's

• Winner 1976, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 2000, 2006,2007

• Final 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1993, 1997, 2002, 2004, 2009

Futsal

National competitions

Thailand Futsal League

The Thailand Futsal League was founded in 2006 and the first season took place that same year. There is both a men's league with 12 teams and a women's league with 8 teams.

International competitions

Successes at the Futsal World Championships

Thailand qualified for both the 2000, 2004 and 2008 World Cups. The 2008 World Cup will be held in Brazil in September. 2000 and 2004 did not get beyond the first round.

Successes at the Futsal Asian Cup

The Asian Futsal Cup has been held annually since 1999. In 2008 Thailand was the host country and was able to reach the final. There they lost 4-0 to Iran.

Men's

• 3rd place in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004
• 2nd place 2008

Successes at the Asian Indoor Games Futsal Championships

The Asian Indoor Games Futsal Championships have been held every two years since 2005

Men's

• 2005 and 2007, 2009 each 2nd place

Successes at the ASEAN Futsal Championship

Since the introduction of the ASEAN Futsal Championship in 2001, Thailand has always emerged as the winner of the men's tournament.

Men's

• Winner 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009

President

The current president of the FAT is Worawi Makudi . Makudi was elected to office in 2007 as the successor to Vijit Getkaew. The president's term of office is two years. Makudi has been a member of the FIFA Executive Committee since 1997 .

Vijit Getkaew was in office for almost a full decade before more and more resentment spread over him and he finally gave up the office and Makudi was unanimously elected as president. At the end of September 2008, reports surfaced in the media that the 70-year-old Vijit Getkaew wanted to run again for the office of president. Fierce discussions about himself and the reports in the media flared up again. It cannot be ruled out that, under renewed public pressure, Getkaew will not run for office in the end and instead support a candidacy by Chaipak Siriwat. Chaipak Siriwat is currently the Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Thailand Premier League. However, since the FAT would like to lead the TPL itself again from 2009 onwards, Siriwat's post on the committee would be obsolete anyway.

Criticism of the FAT

To date there are hardly any professional structures in the Thai football and soccer association. This has led to criticism from the Asian association for years, and you risk losing a place in the AFC Champions League . In the run-up to the Asian Championship in 2007, the Thai federation received several warnings from the AFC to improve the venues.

But criticism of the FAT is not just coming from outside. Withaya Laohakul , one of the most famous Thai coaches and footballers, also expressed criticism of the FAT and therefore left the Chonburi FC he coached and moved to Japan. There is hardly any advertising for competitions taking place in Thailand such as the King's Cup and ASEAN football championships 2007 .

There are still two competing associations, the FAT and the SAT, the highest national league consists almost without exception of factory teams from Bangkok-based companies and institutions, so most of the country is excluded from top-class football. Changes to the league formats took place almost annually and there are hardly any reliable statistics and records on the league and the national teams.

Vision Asia

Vision Asia is a program of the AFC which aims to help professionalize associations and leagues in Asian countries. AFC experts are made available to the associations to help them implement structures and reforms. The Thai Football Association joined the project in October 2007.

Goal project

The Goal project is a FIFA project that aims to make national associations more independent and professional. With the help of subsidies from FIFA, the construction of training centers and association headquarters is to be made possible. In 2004, FIFA approved the first Goal project in Thailand. A modern training center is to be built in Nong Chok ( Bangkok ). In 2007, the FAT received approval to expand the project. A club headquarters are now to be built near the new training center from the first Goal project. FAT received a total of USD 400,000 in funding from FIFA for these projects.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} fifa.com: Big Count summary report per association (PDF; 151 kB)
2. ↑ fat.or.th: History of the Association (thai) ( Memento of the original from February 10, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ nationmultimedia.com: Report in the Nation ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ rsssf.com: http://www.rsssf.com/tablesk/kings.html Winner list on RSSSF.com
5. ↑ goalzz.com http://www.goalzz.com/main.aspx?c=3625&stage=5 Results of the AFC Futsal Championship
6. ↑ Makudi's profile on FIFA.com ( memento of the original from June 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Report in the online edition of the Bangkok Post  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (from October 1, 2008)  
8. ↑ chonburifc.net: Statement about the structures in the FAT ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ the-afc.com: AFC Vision Asia - Vision Thailand
10. ↑ fifa.com: http://www.fifa.com/aboutfifa/developing/goalprogramme/index.html About the FIFA Goal project
11. ↑ fifa.com: http://de.fifa.com/associations/association=tha/goalprogramme/index.html Report on the Goal project in Thailand

Web links

• Official website of the association
• Official website of the Thai futsal league
• Association profile on the FIFA website
• Association profile on the AFC website