Here you can discuss Thai soccer. http://www.stadiumzone.weebly.com has a lot of soccer clubs revenues, Buriram PEA FC, the richest sports club from Thailand, seems to be in the list. Good to see they have grown very fast in a short time financially. They even bought Surat Sukha from Melbourne Victory, not a small club, for the coming season.
I wouldn't quite say Buriram are te richest club in Thailand, must be behind MTU with their Siam Sport backing? Buriram PEA have been around since the 70's, moving to Burriam in 2010. Next season, they will merge with Buriram to form Buriram United. PEA will join another team, possibly someone like Chiang Mai or Phuket. Buriram PEA are rich because of one owner and the PEA company. When the PEA company leave they are half as rich as what they were before!
Thai Premier league...formed 2010? Im gonna see if I can get a trang jersey in bangkok or back in the states.
Went Pro in 2009. The leagues been around in an organised fashion since mid 90's. Getting a Trang shirt in Bangkok!! Best of luck mate. MTU shirts at Seacon Square are available. MBK shopping mall you might find some Thai shirts on sale (Thai Port, Chonburi, Buriram) but it can be a hell of a search.
FIFA have the game on their site, no venue at the moment though. Thai were meant to be in training camp in UAE at that time though, and play away to Oman just days later, so I guess neutral venue seems possible.
Didn't find the jersey. In Trang I saw them in the store but they were all too small LOL. I'll get someone down there to send me one. Saw a intramural game at Khon Kaen...went into overtime, and after every stop, two...three guys would go down at the same time with cramps etc. Hilarious. I was watching Football plus or whatever in Thailand....they played the video of the gay ref. LOL. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kum3QysCoeQ"]Gay soccer ref - YouTube[/ame]
Is he also going to be part of the Thai national team set-up? I've read that one of the reasons he considered moving to the Thai Premier League is to join the national team in addition to finding consistent first-team playing time.
Does anybody follow the TPL much here? MTU beat Samut Songkhram today to remain undefeated through 18 matches. Yay MTU!
The few rich successful clubs at the top are growing. But for most any other club its hard to find people who know they exist, much less other fans to mingle and network with.
At the local club in Trang I went to, there were some African players, I wonder how they were scouted. I'm sure some teams can't compete but this was a new semi pro club.
Thai football is certainly growing, more so in the Regional Leagues, the top flight still needs to get rid of the company teams, look at TTM for example, last few years moved from Bangkok to Samut Sakhon to Phichit and now Chiang Mai. There is still room for some company teams, Thai Port for example have a good base in Klong Toey and although called Thai Port, you could say they identify with the Klong Toey public. TOT aswell, seem to be getting it slowly together. But for every Chonburi, you get a Thai Honda. For every Trang you get a Army United. An improving league in the region.
Just a pity it seems the schedule has caught up with Buriram Utd this year. The last few seasons we haven't really had a serious two horse race as MTU/Chonburi/PEA have been focused on Asia. Time Bangkok Glass really make the step up.
TTM Chiang Mai really needs to go back to just calling itself Thailand Tobacco Monopoly. That was the funniest name in sports, I miss it. Too bad they're not allowed to. But aside from comedic value, the company names are pretty terrible and hard to relate to. Not impossible to relate to, but difficult. And what's wrong with Army United?
Army United, Police United, Air Force.... is there really a place for teams like this? Army have always played in Din Daeng, why not Din Daeng united? Police tend to represent Thammsarat, so again why not the same? In the proffesional era, I don't think it can be sustained. There's nothing wrong with it, if they want to compete, then do so. I certainly wouldn't want to see them disappear from the footballing map, but at times you do wonder just how they and a few others can sustain themselves in the top flight. Thai football has generally been Bangkok based until the last few years. The Eastern Seaboard is now breaking through, and a few southern clubs are making a noise, although at great expense. Narathiwat went bust just a few years ago. Surat Thani practically relegated themselves a few years ago. Phuket nealry withdrew this year. Only Wucachon can stay the pace, and why? Because they are a Buriram club playing the south of Thailand, a bizarre part of Thai football.
Army United plays at the Royal Thai Army headquarters, which happen to be located in Din Daeng. And up until a couple years ago, when it became clear that the club was going to have to import talent to remain competitive, it fielded only Thai men currently serving in the Army. The players were soldiers on weekdays and footballers on weekends. Of course their name should have Army in it.
Yeah, but like you say that was up untill a couple of years ago when the league and club wasn't professional. Since 2009 things have changed, the league has changed and the club has changed rightly with it, but they have lost their identity somewhat. They are similiar to any other club. Clubs like Krung Thai Bank became Bangkok Glass, Bangkok Bank went to the wall. Osotsapa became Osotsapa Saraburi, Coke-Bangphra became Pattaya United, Army only actually changed name for good look when Royal Thai Army should have been relegated, all when they play just Thai's, somewhat proud of what they were doing, all changed when they changed name. But we all know that soldiers at weekdays, players at weekends isn't quite right. Mandoratory service, but no active service for them, just play football. Like i say earlier, there is a place for such a club in the football system, after all we have Navy and Thai Fleet etc, it's just a cas eof, can they sustain top flight fooball representing who?? How many fans do they get? Last year, very well supported, but down 38% this year, and that for a side who's doing well, although the fixture list has favoured them at the mid season point with 3 thirds of games played at home and bad away form.
I guess I'm missing your point here. If your point is that many clubs (not including Army United) should stop all this relocation and rebranding to ridiculous company names, and should just take a solid name like "Phichit FC" and stay in that province, then I completely agree.