Thailand’s great unity to compete with Korea
The Thai national football team, which will play against Korea in the 2026 FIFA World Cup United Asia 2nd qualifying round, announced in public that it would actively support Team A by combining the three strongest teams in the Thai league to advance to the World Cup finals for the first time in history. . Thailand, led by Brazilian coach Alexandre Pölking, competes with the winner of the match between China, Singapore and Guam, as well as the Korean national soccer team led by Jurgen Klinsmann, in the Asian qualifiers for the World Cup.
When the World Cup qualifiers were announced, the so-called ‘three captains’ owners who are currently leading the Thai league gathered in one place. Newin Chitchop, owner of Buriram United, who has now solidified his position as a traditional powerhouse, Pang Lamsam, owner of Port FC, nicknamed ‘Madame Fang’, and Parvin Virombakdi, owner of Pathum Thani United, an emerging powerhouse, held a joint press conference.
The ‘goal’ of this press conference is cooperation and full support for the Thai national football team to advance to the World Cup finals. The owner of Pang Lamsam Port FC, who also serves as the general manager of the Thai national football team, said, “The number of tickets to the World Cup finals has increased to 8.5. It is a big temptation for all Asian teams, including Thailand,” but added, “But we, Thailand, are at a disadvantage. Korea and China are at a disadvantage.” We are in this same group. Besides, it is not an easy group with Singapore ahead of the match against Guam. As the national team leader, I kept communicating with the owners Newin Chitchop and Parvin Birombakdi for a while, and finally they decided to support me with all their might.” background explained.
The specific support measures are as follows. Buriram, the owner of Newin Chit Chop, who is already well-known in Korea as an enthusiastic owner, decided to hand over his team manager to the national coaching staff. Director Ishida Masatada Buriram will act as a technical advisor to assist director Völlking. Owner Newin Chitchop said, “Coach Ishii also agreed to contribute to Thai football. Coach Ishii will continue to work as manager of Buriram throughout his career. Buriram will be responsible for all financial treatment of coach Ishii. The wages and expenses incurred will be borne by Buriram in full.”
Coach Ishida has risen to the top of the J-League as head coach of Kashima Antlers, and has gained international fame by discovering Gaku Shibasaki and placing the team in third place at the 2016 FIFA Club World Cup. From the 2021-2022 season, the stage moved to Thailand and is highly regarded locally, such as winning the Domestic Treble (Thai League, FA Cup, League Cup) for two consecutive years. 안전놀이터 Parvin Birombakdi, the owner of Pathumthani United, gives away the homeroom. He said, “Pathumthani United will provide another dedicated training ground for the national team. The call-up of the national team is short-term, but it should be continuous for about 10 days,” he said, implying that he would provide perfect training facilities.
In addition, it plans to provide the highest level of sports science in Thailand. “In Asia, no one will be able to surpass our team in sports science research. Pathum Thani United will support the national team even more. As mentioned earlier, the atmosphere of Thai football unification, which was not there before, was created because of the World Cup finals. If you do it, so many things in Thai football will change. You can also see the will from the words of the owner of Parvin Birombakdi. He said, “The World Cup qualifiers starting in November of this year will be a good opportunity. We must act first,” he emphasized the reason for the need for this ‘union’.
Meanwhile, the owners of Buriram and Pathum Thani also expressed their intention to appoint Pang Lamsam Port FC owner and general manager of Thailand’s national football team as the next president of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT), who became the focal point of this alliance. It is an atmosphere in the Thai football world that is firmly united for the World Cup finals.