The decision of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) was announced on the afternoon of September 9. Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian was assigned to lead the Thai team to replace Mr. Futoshi Ikeda. Mr. Ikeda lost his job after Thailand only ranked 4th in the 2025 Southeast Asian Women's Football Championship in Vietnam. In this tournament, the Thai women's team lost to the Vietnamese women's team twice with scores of 0-1 (group stage) and 1-3 (third place match).
Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian, born in 1972, is a very successful coach of Thai women's football. She led the Thai women's team through the 2015 and 2019 World Cup qualifiers. In addition, she also took on the role of assistant coach Mano Polking in the Thai men's team in 2021.
FAT assigned Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian a very clear task of helping the Thai women's team win the gold medal (HCV) at the 33rd SEA Games at home. The last time the Thai women's team won the SEA Games was in 2013, also led by Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian.
In the last 4 SEA Games, the Vietnamese women's team absolutely dominated with 4 gold medals. Therefore, the Vietnamese women's team will be Thailand's biggest rival at the 33rd SEA Games. In addition, the Myanmar and Philippines women's teams are also formidable opponents for the Thai women's team.
To maintain consistency in playing style, Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian will simultaneously lead both the Thai women's team and the Thai U23 women's team. Her first match as Thailand women's coach will be two friendly matches against Bangladesh women's team, on October 24 and 27.
