The Football Federation of Thailand is not supported
In recent days, the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) has been in a serious crisis. This organization had to pay 360 million baht (272 billion VND), when it lost the lawsuit against media company Siam Sports.
The reason is that during the term of former president Somyot Poompamuang, FAT unilaterally terminated the Thai League copyright exploitation contract with the above company. As the current chairman, Madam Pang (Ms. Nualphan Lamsam) must of course solve the problem left by her predecessor.
But the story of the FAT and Thai League is not just a matter of money. For the past 6 years, this organization has had difficulty receiving support from many professional clubs in this tournament system.
After winning the gold medal at the 29th SEA Games in 2017, U22 Thailand could not possess the strongest force when participating in the men's football event at the Regional Games in the following stages. FAT has even been publicly criticized by Thai League teams for being "dysgedicated" by achievements.
In 2021, before the 31st SEA Games started, Buriram United and Chonburi were determined not to " release" Thailand U22, with a total of about 10 players.
Thai League CEO - Korrawee Prissananthakul emphasized: "The SEA Games gold medal does not have to be so highly regarded. We are suffering from a disease of achievements, when it is too easy to settle down with the small things ahead.
If Thai football cannot escape Southeast Asian thinking, then when can we dream of reaching the world. Success at the SEA Games does not solve any problem. It simply means a gold medal".
Coach Choburi club - Sasit Singtothong is also upset about the postponement of the Thai League Cup match at that time. He emphasized that this caused the team to lose millions of baht due to having to change the training and competition schedule.
Thai League is difficult to postpone due to the 33rd SEA Games
2 years ago, at the 32nd SEA Games, 100% of clubs (16 Thai League teams and 18 First Division teams) opposed the plan to change the competition schedule from April to May to serve Thailand U22 with the strongest force.
Remember, at the same time, the Football Association of Thailand also faced pressure to regain the SEA Games gold medal from the Government and the Olympic Committee. This is also one of the reasons why Mr. Somyot Poompamuang had to give the position of Chairman of FAT to Madam Pang.
Ironically, this rich businesswoman herself is also stuck in a "terrorist, under the hammer" situation like her predecessor. Not long ago, the Thai Sports Agency announced that U22 Thailand must win the gold medal at the 33rd SEA Games, in the context of the land of the golden temple playing the host role.
However, like the recent congresses in recent years, clubs in the Thai League have not made any move to support the Thai Football Federation.
Mr. Newin Chidchob - President of Buriram United continues to disagree with the view of postponing the Thai League to focus on the SEA Games. This individual father once declared: "Destroying the entire professional tournament system to become a SEA Games champion is the vision of amateurists who do not know about football.
Is the SEA Games championship so meaningful to FAT that he does not care about the professional championship, which is the foundation for the development of Thai football? If you only stop dreaming at the SEA Games, don't think about the World Cup".
According to the process, FAT will still have a proposal to postpone the Thai League 2025-2026 competition schedule, in order to help Thailand U22 gather forces to participate in the 33rd SEA Games. However, from this point on, that scenario has not received support from many professional teams in the Thai League.
Predicting this possibility, recently, Chairman FAT Madam Pang personally had to enroll for the U22 team. Last month, she approached two very young players playing for the England U17 teams, Kai Law (Nottingham Forest) and Silva Mexes (Man United).
This is also a strategy that Madam Pang is forced to start implementing early, in the situation of the above target assignment, the below disagreement in Thai football at the moment...
