Thailand has long been football mad, but while there’s always been suitable interest in the efforts of the national team, what happens at club level was usually ignored in favor of the glamor of big money European competitions like the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Ask any football fan what their favorite team is and chances are they’ll say Liverpool or Manchester United not Chonburi or Bangkok Glass.
Except, all that’s changing. Last year saw interest in the Thailand Premier League (TPL) explode, with the leading teams playing to packed stadiums, major sponsors like Yamaha, Chang and Coca Cola clamoring to get involved and even a major politician, Newin Chidchob, become owner of a leading club (PEA Buriram).
Attempting to cash in on last season’s success, more and more teams are getting serious about drafting in big name players and overseas coaches, while, for the first time, all the matches will be shown live on local satellite and cable channels. So why the newfound interest? After all, Thailand didn’t even qualify for the Asian Cup. With the new TPL season finally kicking off this weekend (after a slight delay due to last week’s protests), we talk to players, managers, owners and, of course, the fans, to find out why Thai football is climbing to the top of the league.
The President
A former player and coach of the national team, Dr. Wichit Yambonruang has legendary status among Thai football fans. Since becoming President of the Thai Premier League in 2008, he’s perhaps faced his biggest challenge: convincing the conservative Thai Football Association (FA) to get more proactive and offer more support to local clubs.
The Player
Midfielder Piyachart “Math” Thamathan, 23, was part of the Muangthong United team that won the TPL last year, the very first season that they had played in the top flight. He hopes of playing for Manchester United, but is pretty content with the fact that he’s already living many people’s childhood dream job as a full-time footballer.
The Manager
General manager and team manager of leading club BEC Tero Sasana FC, Anan Anpruang is perhaps a sign of the new breed of individuals getting involved with the game off the pitch. He has used his masters in marketing to help make BEC Tero Sasana a more profitable, professional and therefore more appealing product to potential sponsors and fans.
The Owner
A former player in Belgium, Robert Procureur got involved with local football through the Jean-Marc Guillou Academy Thailand, set up to identify young players with potential and give them proper training and support. Robert’s desire to have a club where these young stars could perform competitively led to the purchase of Muangthong United three years ago, in partnership with sports media giant Siam Sport Syndicate. The results have been phenomenal as the club have gone on to win the third, second and then Premier league titles in consecutive seasons.
The Fans
Pattapon Na Nakorn, 26, has been a long term follower of Thai football. A big fan of former Thailand player and now coach of BEC Tero Sasana, Tawan “Ban” Sripan, Pattapon has been following the “Fire Dragons” for five years. As personal assistant to a Chulalongkorn university professor, he also follows Division One team Chula United.
Like many Thai soccer fans, Peramit “Pom” Paitayatat, a 36-year-old salesperson, admits that he used to just watch the foreign leagues. But after playing for the Bangkok Christian College team, he started following the local game more closely. While he waits for BCC to get promoted to the TPL he’s happy to cheer current champions, Muangthong United.
Long-term English expat Simon Causton (far left) found himself missing the terrace atmosphere of his beloved Chelsea come the weekends. He found solace through following local club Bangkok United, where he’s now a season ticket holder going to every home game.
Customer Services Coordinator, Sasipanwadee ‘Kassie’ Kantapak only started following the game in 2009 when her English boyfriend dragged her along to a match. But after getting hooked on the atmosphere she also started appreciating the football. So much so, that the Sisaket FC supporter and her partner Nigel Bayne now run www.thaileaguefootball.com, one of the most comprehensive English-language websites reporting on the local game.
WHY DO YOU THINK THAI FOOTBALL IS UNDERGOING SUCH BIG CHANGES?
Dr. Wichit: The Thailand Football Association used to be a commander. My approach was more proactive. We used a customer relationship approach, where the clubs are our customers. We had to encourage them to have a vision and commit to it. So I got a commitment from Siam Sports to throw hundreds of billions of baht at the TPL—they have the people and the resources. We are just really getting behind them and backing them. Some people envy them, but what they are doing benefits everyone involved. The key first step was to have a good product. You can’t promote a bad product; people just won’t buy it.
Anan: Definitely thanks to the local media focusing much more on the league. For example, on BEC Tero’s own channel, Channel 3, we changed things last year, in that we started to report on Thai football first in the sports news. It used to be you’d get the overseas games first, but now it’s the TPL. It helps make people more focused and more interested in what’s going on. Also, people never used to play the game, they just used to bet on the result. Now there are over 100 synthetic pitches in the country: people are playing football. They are more interested to come and watch teams play; they understand it better.
Pom: In Thailand, football was always a number one sport but the power of the media is a major influence. It’s like they lit the fire and the Thai people are throwing more firewood onto it. Thai football fans are now coming from every social class and the numbers are just growing so fast. The stadiums are now full which gives the games atmosphere and makes it a fun day out for people.
Robert: It’s a chicken and egg situation: it’s partly to do with the fans, partly the sponsors and then down to the players. Good players want more money, fans want to see good players and, of course, sponsors want to see lots of fans. We’re paying players decent money now. We’re bringing Thai stars back from abroad, as well as players from places like Ivory Coast, Japan and even Turkey. It creates more excitement, more buzz about the whole league. Thais have always been crazy about football, but the Thai league is now a more competitive, more professional league with fans from all over the country.
Kassie: I think people who watch football are realizing that they don’t get that feeling of ownership, of being part of the team, when they watch the English Premier League. Coming and supporting your local team live is like being one of the team; it’s not like watching Liverpool on TV.
Pattaporn: Unlike supporting a foreign team, Thai football is a lot easier to follow live. The stadium is only 10 minutes from my house. I want to be at the games and experience them in person, not through a TV screen or Youtube. Also, it’s not really that expensive to watch a game. I don’t mind paying B50 to cheer for my favorite team.
Simon: I think the ruling at the beginning of last season that all clubs had to be independent entities and could no longer be run directly by corporations improved the characters of the clubs. There has also been a definite shift to more teams outside of Bangkok, which makes the game more national, which can only improve the overall support through Thailand. All this, and a more professional attitude among the players and refs, has led to a huge improvement and a still larger one to come.
HOW DO YOU SEE THAI FOOTBALL PROGRESSING FROM HERE?
Robert: I think it has definitely reached a level where it is sustainable. The next couple of years are very important but I feel things will continue to progress. For example, this season all the games are going to be shown on TV which means more and more people will get to see the action. It’s much more competitive; there are five teams that could be champions this year. It used to be all corporate teams that were not particularly motivated to progress and make their teams more professional. That’s our main aim, to have a better team that is competitive so we can attract big sponsors and lots of fans.
Pom: Thai players seem to have made a lot of progress in both skill and physical strength in the last couple of years. That’s led to a faster and more exciting game. Some clubs now have their own website, shop, merchandise and stadiums. That’s really a good sign.
Kassie: The TPL has so much more money these days. You can see, they have the foreign coaches, good training, more professionalism—they are trying to build something. Standards are definitely increasing as a result. But I think the more exciting aspect is the regional league of Division Two, where we currently have around 50 provinces playing in five different regional leagues. A lot of these clubs have seen the potential and are becoming very ambitious and professional. Another twenty entered this year’s competition. The exciting thing is that it means the league is not just dominated by Bangkok clubs. It really is a proper national league.
WHAT ARE TODAY’S FANS LIKE?
Pattaporn: The new fans are younger. They don’t really know much about the players or how to behave at games. They do buy a lot of team merchandise, though.
Anan: Football is traditionally a grassroots sport. Footballer lovers and even footballers tend to come from a lower economic background. But these days, we are definitely seeing different types of fans, from all different classes.
Match: I’ve noticed we are getting more families coming to games. They’re really nice and supportive. Most of my fans are girls though, which I have no complaints about!
Robert: Well, you have the singing and chanting, but people do tend to bring the whole family to games here. The children come along, so it makes it a bit more like a big party, less aggressive than in many European countries.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO IMPROVE STANDARDS FURTHER IN THAILAND?
Pattaporn: Support from the government, especially funding. Some of the stadiums should be renovated to accommodate the larger crowds coming to see the games.
Anan: The Thai FA has to focus on making all aspects of the game more professional. Focus on things like nutrition, fitness, technique. Look at a small sport like Taekwondo. The Thai competitors have adopted a professional approach and they’re now competitive at a global level. We have to do the same for football. At the club level, we are also creating ties with other clubs outside Thailand. For example, we’ve long term ties with Arsenal, which means we train over there and spend time learning from their coaching team, including Arsene Wenger.
Match: For me, I’d say security. Our last match with Thai Port was really rough. We had some of the most aggressive fans I’ve ever seen. Everything else is pretty decent. I’m quite content with the benefits and the money I receive.
Robert: Well, put simply, we need to have good youth education, to invest in the players of tomorrow, through better coaching and training facilities. This is definitely something that two or three of the private clubs are starting to do. I think the Thai FA is definitely trying to develop the league and trying to organize things better. They can’t do everything in one year, but supporting the aims of the commercial teams is the right approach.
Simon: The standard of refereeing is something that, like most supporters I have met in the TPL, needs to be increased further. I know there have been big steps in the off season to improve the level of professionalism, so hopefully we will see the results of this. I think the influx of money has two sides to it: better players and stadiums can only improve the game, but I hope that it does not alienate the local supporters, who are really the life blood of the clubs.
HOW DOES THE INFLUX OF FOREIGN PLAYERS AFFECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THAI FOOTBALL?
Match: I don’t mind, as long as they help us win! I much prefer Thai coaches, though, because communication is really important and sometimes foreign coaches don’t really understand the mentality of Thai footballers.
Anan: I think it’s important. Foreign players are more disciplined and Thai players could learn from them. They have the tactics and the skill but Thai players don’t have self-discipline; they aren’t physically fit. They train two hours a day then go out drinking, smoking, gambling and flirting with women.
Dr. Wichit: I don’t see it as a problem. We want to improve the product so we have to do this. We have to bring them in and it helps the Thai players to improve. Good foreign players help make standards much better.
Pom: I think it’s OK for now, but if we hire them, then they need to be top-class players. We shouldn’t hire imported players for the sake of it. They could ruin Thai players’ chance to shine.
Kassie: Definitely a good thing for the teams, as Thais can learn from these foreign imports. Still, it should be restricted. I am sure a lot of fans are like me: they don’t want to follow a team that has no Thai players.
DO YOU THINK A THAI TEAM CAN EVER WIN THE ASIAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OR THE NATIONAL TEAM QUALIFY FOR THE WORLD CUP?
Pattaporn: We have to come up to the standards of Korean and Japanese teams first, which is difficult. We can’t afford good players from Europe.
Anan: We are about three years away from having a chance, if things continue as they are. You know our league is older than both the Japanese and Korean leagues. But they are running while we’ve been sleeping. The Thai FA has really held us back in the past. We have to learn from what these leagues have done and try to lift our own standards.
Robert: At present the standard is just too low. We don’t have what I would call elite footballers. At the moment there are 60-80 players who could play for the national team, that’s too many. It’s because the general level of the league is just not good enough. The first thing to do is to raise the level of the Thai league so you have 20-30 elite players. Then these top players need to be able to go overseas, to go and play in Europe, where they can improve further. They can then bring this experience back to the Thai national team. Unfortunately, this is still quite a long way off.
Match: I sure hope so. The thing is, our team is still pretty new but we’re definitely working towards that. It’s certainly one of our goals. Give it a few more years. We need to train the players when they are young and give them our full support. Football is not really a career yet in Thailand.
Kassie: I don’t see it in the near future. I think the mentality has to change. The hunger isn’t there compared to other teams. The trouble is the youth team don’t have the budget or support. The only real possibility is to look at training the kids. They have to pay attention to the general support for players. Stop trying these quick fixes, like employing high profile managers that cost lots of money.
What’s New?
- At the beginning of the 2008/2009 season the Asian Football Association brought in a rule that all Thai Premier League clubs have to be limited companies if they want to compete in the Asian Cup and Asian Champions League.
- Thanks to a more professional approach by clubs and strong promotion in the local media, fans start turning out to watch matches. BEC Tero Sasana sees average attendances rise from around 1000 fans to 5000 fans per game.
- Muangthong United, who feature a number of foreign players, win the league. They announce their intention to increase their stadium capacity from its current 5,000 to 20,000. Other clubs join suit, with plans for their own new stadiums around the country.
- This close season has seen a number of major companies, most notably True Corporation, get financially involved with clubs, as well as an increase in big sponsorship deals, a rash of foreign players signing for TPL teams and the announcement that, for the first time, all games will be broadcast live.
Hooligan threat?
This year’s King’s Trophy final between Thai Port FC and Muangthong United saw crowd trouble. It ended in nine fans being injured, ten Thai Port fans getting banned for one year and the club getting heavily fined. We asked our experts, is hooliganism a potential threat to the game’s booming popularity?
Dr Wichit: We worry about hooliganism, in that we understand that fans can sometimes get a little crazy. So the key thing is to implement preventive measures, either let the clubs and fans learn and adjust their behavior, or suffer the penalties.
Anan: It just shows that every club has to be more careful and has to really think about security. The problems were really down to very poor organization, but you can’t blame the club (Thai Port); you have to blame the Football Association. They organized the game, they picked the stadium, they’re responsible for the security, and they didn’t do it properly. It’s not the fans fault, it’s not the players’ fault and it’s certainly not the club’s fault. It’s an isolated incident, but all the clubs have to get together to ensure it doesn’t happen again. We’ve been on fact-finding trips to Japan and the UK to learn how they manage it and prevent it. We have to take these techniques and adapt them to our game.
Pom: You know chanting and teasing the opposition fans is kind of common, part of the game. We’re really just imitating what we see on TV, from the foreign leagues. But I really do think there’s only a small group of ‘hooligans.’ They just don’t know how to properly express their love for the team.
Kassie: I think to be honest, it was really just a small group of crazy drunk fans, and it all got out of hand. This is definitely not a common problem. When I go to see games, there is a good relationship between different fans: they exchange gifts and treat each other like friends. Saying that, I think we do need better security. Clubs need to deal with this as a number one priority as more people come to games and the crowds get bigger. I hope I’m wrong, but I think there could be problems.
The Numbers
B5 million
Average monthly salary of English Premier League Player
B50,000
Average monthly salary of Thai Premier League Player
B131,750
Fine handed out to Thai Port FC after crowd trouble at the recent King’s Trophy final (see Hooligan threat? above)
B100 million
Amount paid by Yamaha to have Muang Thong’s Thunder Dome renamed the Yamaha Stadium for three years.
The Big Guns
A quick look at some of the Thai Premier League contenders and where their money comes from.
Muanthong United: Owned by media giant Siam Sport Syndicate, the company behind daily papers Dara and Siam Keela and TV channels 7, 9 and ITV. They have a foreign coach and a number of exciting overseas players as well as Thai national players like Teerasil Dangda and Datsakorn Thonglao. They also have the rights to broadcast the Thai Premier League this season.
BEC Tero Sasana: One of the first clubs to turn fully professional, they were founded by BEC TERO Entertainment back in 1992. The entertainment group owns TV channels, produces films, hosts major music and sporting events and owns ticket agency Thaiticketmajor. They have long-term ties with English Premier League club Arsenal and have won the league twice before.
Buriram PEA Football Club: Formerly based in Ayutthaya, the long-term member of the TPL and champions in 2008, moved to the Northeastern province after being taken over by controversial politician Newin Chidchob. They have plans for a purpose-built 24,000 seat stadium called the Thunder Castle and Newin has stated that his side will get B100,000 for each goal they score this season.
Bangkok Glass: 2009 saw the former 4th division team take over Krung Thai Bank FC and begin competing in the TPL, finishing third in their inaugural season. Known as the Glass Rabbits they’re owned by Bangkok Glass Group of Companies, a joint venture that includes the Singha Corporation.
Chonburi FC: Founded back in 1997, they have traditionally had the biggest following of any Thai club. After finishing runners-up last season, they recently moved to the new 20,000 seater IPE Chonburi Stadium and have major sponsorship deals with Chang, Red Bull and Yamaha. Their chairman, Wittaya Khunpluem is also member of parliament for Chonburi Province.
Bangkok United: Recently became the latest club to be backed by big money when communications giant True Corporation announced that they had become the majority shareholders. The Bangkok United chairman claimed the club has already spent around B30 million in the preseason in an attempt to catch the leading teams.
